


Magic Like No Other

by megan_rose



Series: Soul in Hand [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2018-07-15 08:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 38,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7214713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megan_rose/pseuds/megan_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The monsters knew their fate was sealed by a barrier, keeping them trapped in the Underground. But was it ever possible for a magical element of some sort to be able to go beyond the magical limit of the barrier? Well... nobody really thought of it. Nobody but one special monster. A monster with the ability and equipment to actually run experiments to answer that question.<br/>But when his time comes a little too quickly, his ideas and experiments end up falling into the hands of a very unexpected monster.<br/>And what exactly will he do with this new power he's gained?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting of Tears

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very excited to write this, I think this is going to be a very fun and interesting book! This is going to be the sequel to Soul in Hand. Some of the book takes place before/during Soul in Hand. Then the rest of it takes place right after. I have lots of good ideas for the plot and how I want the book to be.... I'm very excited for you all to read it!  
> By the way, kudos to fallentale for being a huge part of the thought process for the concept of the book when we were thinking of Undertale theories/questions. They have to get credit for this. If it wasn't for them, this book probably wouldn't exist. They're awesome so definitely follow them and read their books ('cause they're an amazing writer)!  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Crying is alright in its ways while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do." ~C.S Lewis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how psyched I am for this chapter. From this chapter forward, the book will go nowhere but up. My ideas and creativity are through the roof, and I am super excited myself to see where this book will end up.  
> Here's a music suggestion for the chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g7OUvGrRJI

"What is that thing?" a human muttered, looking at the figure. It was covered in a dark shadow, for the Sun was just about to set. It slowly moved closer to the village, concerning all the members of the village. When it was finally in sight of the humans, they all gasped in fear.

"What is that horrible creature, and what has it done to that human?!" another voice yelled. A godlike monster was standing in front of the crowd, staring down at them. A child, dead, was lying in his arms.

"That monster killed a human!" a man shouted in fury.

"How did it escape from the barrier though?" a woman gasped.

"It doesn't matter," one brave man growled. "We must stop it before it does any more harm." As the people muttered agreements, the monster drifted away from the humans. He placed the child on a small bed of golden flowers. The child looked peaceful, though they were dead and had no actual emotions, causing a smile to appear on the monster's face.

" _ **SNAP**_!" The monster cried out as a sharp pain jabbed into his back. He turned and tried to find what was causing the pain in his back. When he pulled out what was sticking out of his back, he found a handcrafted arrow. He growled angrily and snapped the flimsy handle in half.

"Ready, aim..." a single voice said. Then he thundered, " _FIRE_!" A group of arrows flung at the beast, causing him to run around them. He ran towards the humans, a hungry look for human flesh in his eyes. He continued walking towards them. The humans were cornered, and they were too paralyzed with fear to try and stop him. They thought they were goners... until...

He stopped.

"I... I can't," a distorted voice said from the monster's mouth. There was a regretful look in his eyes. Then the look in his eyes switched back to cold and furious.

"What are you doing? Stop holding back and _kill them_!" The monster looked down at the humans, who stared with wide eyes and open mouths. He was battling with the two personas in his soul: the kind monster and the murderous human.

"These people don't give a _damn_ about us! Do it! Kill them!"

"I can't! I don't want to! I... I..."

"You're _**pathetic**_. I can't believe I actually thought you'd go through with this."

The monster's heart broke hearing those words from the accompanied human soul. Before he could say or do anything else, arrows proceeded to fling at him.

But the monster wouldn't fight back.

Arrows struck his arms, his legs, his hands, and his chest. As more arrows stabbed him, he fell to the ground and cried angry, painful roars. The humans fought until they knew he was too weak to survive, no matter what expense.

The monster, weak and weary, was giving up. But he managed to drag himself onto his feet, pick up the child, and limp out of the village. It was time for him to go home.

"Yeah, you _better_ leave!" an old voice croaked as others cheered. Just like in the past, the humans had managed to outwit the monsters.

The monster stumbled up the mountain, being able to feel energy draining out of him as he climbed. But he had to get to the Underground. He wanted to get himself, and the child, to their only true home before he died.

When reaching the top of Mount Ebott, he fell face forward into the hole awaiting for him. He begged for the impact to kill him and get it over with. But no... he was still alive, despite everything he went through.

It was the middle of the night, and the terrifying monster found himself dragging slowly through the ghost town-like villages. Until he reached the castle... the home of the King and Queen of the monsters. Also known as his parents, who were both awaiting his arrival.

He stumbled into the castle, sputtering for help. No matter how many times he tried to puke the words out of his mouth, he couldn't. He stumbled through the long halls, trying to find his way around. He found a doorway and slammed his way in, only to find nobody there too. His vision began getting blurry.

His legs wobbled as he limped further and further into the throne room. Leaning against the king's throne for support, he carefully rested the child on the golden flowers. There. Now they were finally home.

Right away, the monster's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the flowers next to the child. He felt his body stiffening, and he began to go numb.

Asriel Dreemurr was losing his energy and his soul very quickly.

And nobody was there to help him.

Looking over at the peacefully dead human, who he once called his best friend, Asriel felt tears streaming down his face. He betrayed them. The two of them worked so hard to get to where they were. All he had to do was kill some rotten humans. And he chickened out. Now all of his emotions were gone, except for one emotion. Pure guilt.

 _"I'm so sorry Chara,"_ he thought. _"I betrayed you. You killed yourself for us to be free, and I ended up chickening out. All because I let my feelings get in the way. I've wasted your soul. Maybe... Maybe I do deserve to die this way. Because I was such a coward. Not only to you... but to the entire monster race."_

Asriel noticed he was starting to lose his body. When he turned and looked, the lower half of his body had already turned to dust. Panic settled, realizing he didn't want to die.

But his determination was too weak, and his will to live died with him.

"Asriel... is that you?" a voice cried out. A female monster rushed to the entrance of the throne room and screamed at the sight. She ran to the two bodies, already becoming hysterics. She looked down at the two of them, mumbling, "This can't be happening. This can't be happening."

"Tori, what is going-" a voice began. Then he stopped too, also pale with fear at the sight. The king ran to his queen, standing by her. She buried her head into his shoulder, bursting into tears.

Both of their children died in one night.

"King Asgore, Queen Toriel... I have a message for you from..." a knight began. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the horrible scene in front of him. The king and queen, both in tears, were attempting to comfort each other. But no comfort was good enough for the pain of losing two loving children.

The knight slowly moved forward, his metal clanking against the grass. Secretly, he was scared to approach the king and queen at the moment. While he didn't know the pain of losing two children, he did know how Asgore could react at times like these. With shaking hands and chattering teeth, he tapped a single finger on the king's shoulder. King Asgore and Queen Toriel turned and faced him. It hadn't taken very long for their facial expressions to become sorrow and their eyes to turn red.

"I'm... I'm very sorry... f-for your loss..." the knight began, stammering. "Is... um... is there anything you would like for me to do during your time of grieving, your majesties?" Asgore breathed heavily, trying to regain himself from becoming so overwhelmed with sadness.

"I... I want everyone, _every single monster_ , to come to the castle for a meeting," he breathed, his voice hoarse and close to giving out. "Please. Go and tell everyone that they need to come here first thing in the morning."

"Yes, King Asgore," the knight answered with shaking hands. He bolted out of the castle after that, heading for all the places of the Underground. This was a time of crisis in the Underground, and it was his duty to make sure everyone was aware of the situation.

"Darling... are you going to be ok?" the queen whispered, her voice also sounding mellow and full of sorrow. The king nodded, tears staining the fur on his face.

"Yes, Tori," he answered sadly. "I will be." He kneeled by the golden flowers and touched Asriel's face one last time. Then he disappeared, his dust spreading across the flowers. This caused Toriel to burst into more tears, reminding her all over again that her only son was gone.

"As soon as we inform the Underground of what has happened... we shall get our revenge." The king's hands balled into powerful fists. Toriel stopped her bawling and looked up at her husband.

"Gorey... what are you talking about?" Toriel questioned with worry in her voice.

"You know what I mean," Asgore growled as he stood up and headed to the entrance of the castle. Toriel hurried to the entrance of the castle with him to prepare for the meeting.

* * *

 

"Greetings, monsters of the Underground..." Asgore whispered into the microphone, his voice still shaky. The monsters standing in front of the podium all grew confused, wondering why the king was the way he was. What happened?

"I regret to inform you of a disturbance in the Underground. Our precious son, Asriel, has... died because of the human race." There were gasps and mutters throughout the crowd, gradually getting louder. It made more tears escape from the king's eyes.

"Um... we should explain a little more," Toriel added, tears glazing her eyes as well. "Our adopted child, Chara, died with one wish to see the flowers of their village. When they died, Asriel took their soul and went through the barrier. He turned into a terrifying monster, and we have assumed that he died by an attack from the humans. So we have lost two amazing souls of the Underground as of today." More mutters, cries, and angry shouts scattered across the crowd.

"Everyone, quiet please," the king whispered as he wiped away tears. "I know this is sudden news, but you have to understand. Our family is now broken, and it is all because of the wretched humans. Because of this, I have vowed to kill any human who falls to the Underground. We will use their souls to free ourselves of this cursed place and destroy the humans. We'll finally get what's rightfully ours... justice for the monsters." Cheers and more angry shouts followed Asgore's carefully chosen words. Toriel's face fell when hearing Asgore's speech.

"If anybody sees a human, you must report of them to the Royal Guard or myself," Asgore commanded. "Then, I will take care of them. Don't worry, monsters, I will get us all justice for the losses of our own. I won't give up until we have won." Cheers filled the hopeless atmosphere of the Underground.

Toriel stormed away from the podium and stomped into the castle. That was when the monsters went back to their daily routines, heading back to their homes. Asgore, not knowing why Toriel was acting how she was, slowly followed her. He called out, "My queen, what is the matter?"

"You know what's the matter!" Toriel snapped. "I do not want any humans dying! It is not necessary!"

"Tori... that makes no sense at all!" Asgore exclaimed. "They killed Asriel! Don't you want justice for our son?!"

"Yes, but not in that way!" Toriel boomed. "You know all Asriel wanted was for us to make peace with the humans! That would've been his dying request. And that's what we must do. Besides, all humans aren't like the ones who killed Asriel. Think about humans like Chara... what about them?"

"All humans are a disgrace to monsters," Asgore growled. "Whether you like it or not, I'm freeing us to get revenge on those disgusting people."

"Fine... but I'm not supporting you," Toriel sighed. "Goodbye Gorey. I'm leaving." Toriel went into their room, took all of her belongings, and left the castle.

"Tori... Tori, wait!" Asgore yelled, running outside of the castle. "Wait... I'm sorry!" But it was too late.

The queen disappeared, not to be seen for quite a long time.


	2. Two Skeletons Walked Into A Bar...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone." ~Carson McCullers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a more mellow chapter, but it's also the root for the book. So... it's an important one. This is the last chapter I'm going to post for the next... week probably. I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I won't have Internet to post anything. Hopefully I get inspiration from being in new places and get some writing done before coming home. Until then... enjoy this chapter!  
> I meant to have a music suggestion for this chapter, but I ran out of time between last-minute packing, procrastination, and basically rewriting this entire chapter lol. Sorry... but I have many great ideas for music suggestions in upcoming chapters.

It didn't take much for Asgore's prideful speech to turn into the largest topic of the Underground. It was all the monsters would talk about. For the first time in a while, they actually had hope that they might see the light of the surface again.

Not everyone thought that way though.

After the speech, nobody saw the queen. Nobody knew where she went or understood why she disappeared. Some thought it was because of Asgore's speech, especially the part of killing humans. Others thought she was just fed up with Asgore in general. While her absence worried some monsters for a while, thinking of the surface managed to raise their spirits.

Asgore, however, was devastated. He stayed in his castle, only being seen by the Royal Guard members. Nobody else saw him, and it worried them. Not only that, but he never reported on any reported humans. Neither did the Royal Guard members. What great timing for humans to never fall to the Underground.

That didn't dim anyone's hope though! Monsters continued expressing their excitement for possibly being freed one day in many varieties. Whether they talked about it constantly or started rallies in the streets, they made sure their voices were heard. Monsters who wanted nothing to do with the madness couldn't seem to escape it... no matter where they went.

And Grillby's was very attracted to people like that.

The owner of the small, peaceful restaurant, also named Grillby, was happy since he got a lot more customers after the speech. People always escaped to his place to try and get away from the craziness. Even if he wasn't excited himself about the situation and the thought of killing humans, he sure was thankful for Asgore's determined speech. Without it, he probably would've gone out of business.

Grillby woke from his nightlong slumber. He stretched his arms and looked over at the clock next to his bed. Almost late to opening the restaurant... as usual. His dumb alarm clock never set off at the right time anymore. But... he did have that clock even while he was on the surface, so it had to crap out eventually. It was older than old. Too bad there weren't many alarm clocks left in stock in the Underground. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Grillby threw himself out of his bed and got ready for the day.

_"Huh, only a few minutes late for opening today,"_ the flaming monster thought as his restaurant became in sight for him. _"Not bad, Grillby. Not bad at all."_

As he got closer and closer to the front doors, he noticed two figures waiting by the restaurant. He smiled suddenly, recognizing them. They were his regulars; his two best friends.

"Hello Grillby," the taller skeleton greeted politely. Grillby nodded cheerfully at the two skeletons and held the door open for them. They stepped inside the cozy restaurant with Grillby slowly following. They took seats at the front of the restaurant. Grillby walked behind the bar and waited for the monsters' orders.

"I'll just have a burger," the taller skeleton said. He then looked over at his son, a shorter skeleton wearing blue.

"Just a bottle of ketchup for me," the short skeleton added. Grillby, who was expecting that, nodded and headed to the back of the restaurant to prepare the food... and the ketchup bottle.

"Really Sans?" the taller skeleton, sighed. "You had to get just ketchup?" Sans, the son of the taller skeleton, laughed. The two of them sat in comfortable silence. Grillby returned with the taller skeleton's food and the shorter skeleton's ketchup.

"Thank you Grillby," the taller skeleton thanked. Grillby took a pen and a napkin. He wrote: _**"Anything for the Royal Scientist and his son!"**_ The flame flashed one more smile before going off to get other monsters' orders. When the Royal Scientist, also known as W.D Gaster, and his son Sans turned around, they saw the place was already packed with monsters.

"Do you think they're all here to escape the constant chatter of being freed from the Underground?" Sans asked while trying to open the ketchup bottle.

Gaster sighed and crossed his arms. "I know they are. That's one of the reasons we're here too." Sans nodded as he stared down at the ketchup bottle, which he failed to open.

"Dad... can you help-" Sans began.

"I swear Sans, I know you're 21 and officially an adult, but sometimes you act like you're five," Gaster joked with a smirk. He took the ketchup bottle and pryed it open. Sans chuckled as he took it back and muttered, "Thanks." The two skeletons ate silently, enjoying the peaceful sound of soft chatter from other monsters.

Until the peace was ruined.

A large _whoosh_ was heard from the front doors. The doors swung open violently, revealing monsters with picket signs and paint covering them. They were dressed as either humans or knights, and they had signs reading things like, "King Asgore will free us all!" or, "We will get justice!" Some of the signs were pretty brutal, saying, "All humans must be slaughtered!"

"We will be free, we will be free!" the group of monsters chanted. They stomped around the bar, jumping on tables. They were hooting and hollering until their lungs would give out. The other monsters rolled their eyes, annoyed at the scenario. Some of them even left, disappointed that they couldn't escape the rampages no matter where they went.

The chanting continued until Grillby came out to shove the monsters out of his restaurant. When all the protesters were out of the restaurant, the monsters applauded him for stopping them. He bowed, as if he had just finished an astonishing performance of _Hamilton_ , and went back to cooking food.

"Heh, crazy pack of fools," Gaster chuckled, staring at his food. "Everyone is acting insane about the king finally wanting to break the barrier. Everyone's all hyped up now. But... is there any purpose of it?"

"What do you mean?" Sans questioned. "You don't want to go to the surface?"

"Of course I want to go to the surface," Gaster replied. "But killing humans... it kills the good part of freeing ourselves. I'd rather stay down here than kill seven humans."

"But... you _saw_ the humans in the war!" Sans exclaimed. "You watched them kill _our kind_! Don't you want revenge?" Gaster stared at the ground, not knowing how to respond to that.

"No...." Gaster answered, trying to buy time so he could piece an explanation. "Sans, you didn't see those people how I saw them. Yes, there were cruel ones out there who killed our kind, and they're cowards for what they did. But I also saw innocent people, humans who wanted to live in peace like us, who had to suffer through that awful war. There are humans out there with the same intent as us: to live happily and peacefully, no matter who or what you are."

Sans nodded. He squirted some more ketchup into his mouth. "Yeah, that makes sense." There was a slight hesitation before Gaster started speaking again.

"I've been doing this protect..." Gaster's voice wavered off, and he began to think. "Should I be telling you? Well... you are older now, I might as well. What harm will it do?"

"A project?" Sans questioned.

"Yeah... I'm trying to find a way to break the barrier without using human souls. Almost like using an alternate magic element that could be the equivalent of seven human souls. I've been drafting theories and 'what ifs' but haven't done any actual experiments yet. And I don't really know if I want to anytime soon..."

"What's stopping you?" Sans questioned.

"My fears... shame and disappointment from the other monsters... or killing myself in the process," Gaster listed.

"Wow... your fears seem to really be getting you _down to the bone_ ," Sans joked. He slapped his knee and laughed.

"This is no time for jokes, Sans," Gaster snapped. "Wait... what if... how couldn't I have thought of this before?!"

"Thought of what before?" Sans questioned. "A really bad pun?"

"No, you!" Gaster exclaimed.

"Me?"

"You!"

"What do I have to do with any of this?" Sans asked.

"Be my science partner for this project!" Gaster exclaimed. "Sure I may have to run some tests on you and stuff like that, but you can handle it. Besides, I don't really want to do this project alone. Heck, I don't think I _could_! But with my strong wits and your oddly clever mind, we can find a way to free the monsters without killing humans!"

"Do... Do you really think I could be a help?" Sans squeaked, his eyes glimmering with excitement.

"Why, of course," Gaster answered. "I have great faith in this project and the two of us. I believe that we are the future of the monsters. Please join this project with me."

"I... I'll do whatever I can to help... I promise," Sans said. Gaster smiled largely, excited to have a lab partner to help him with his experiments.

Not only that, but it was his son. What more could he have asked for? Gaster felt all his fears from before disappear, and it was replaced with hope and determination.


	3. Why Can't I Move On?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "...There is power in self-sacrifice." ~Veronica Roth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I have returned from my vacation to the East Coast, and wow it was amazing! Even though that was a week ago... and I said I'd start writing again last Friday...  
> I'm so sorry because I said I'd begin posting again sooner. I'm trying to not rush the chapters or the storyline. Summer reading has kicked my ass as well. Big time. It's been a struggle, but hey... at least the chapter is out... lol.  
> I actually had a lot of fun planning this chapter. I got lots of inspiration from many different things. And I got really excited halfway through the chapter because I started getting really creative. Hopefully planning this chapter out very thoroughly paid off. I really hope you all enjoy this!

The big metal doors slowly slid open, revealing a large and dark room. Two shadowy figures stepped in, causing footsteps to echo across the room. It was an eerie place... it gave off the vibe of one of those haunted asylums from horror movies.

"Oh, sorry, I'll turn the lights on," the voice of W.D Gaster said. A switch flickered on, and the light lit up. That helped make his Royal Scientist lab... a little less spooky.

"Wow... so this is your lab..." Sans gasped, in awe of the place.

"Yep, pretty impressive, huh?" Gaster said with a smile. "It's a great lab. Good technology, close to the king's castle. I just never took you here because it's very... professional. Especially whenever the king and queen came over to check up on projects and experiments. I just wanted to wait until you were older."

"I've always wanted to come here..." Sans muttered, amazed by the many gadjets surrounding him. He stumbled around the lab as if he were a three-year-old, observing and touching everything in his sight. He began to reach out to a test tube filled with red liquid.

"No, don't touch that!" Gaster yelled. He swiped the test tube away from Sans' reach. He placed it by other test tubes, also glowing with the red, magical liquid.

"What... is that... for?" he questioned.

"Um... a side project involving determination, which is what that red liquid is," Gaster answered. "I have no clue how on Earth King Asgore found it, but he gave it to me shortly after we got stuck here. I'm guessing it came from human soldiers killed during the war. I don't know what he wants me to do with it yet... which is why I've only stored them for now."

"Dad... you were around during the War of the Humans and Monsters?" Sans gasped, always one to have an interest in the depressing history between the two species. Gaster sighed heavily, nodding. "Did you fight in it?! Or were you only 'behind the scenes' if you know what I mean?"

"Mostly behind the scenes," Gaster answered, crossing Sans and looking through some files on one of his many, many desks scattered in a section of the lab. "There were only a couple times that I had to actually fight... when the other monster soldiers got into some heated battles."

"Ooooh, did you kick some human ass?!" Sans exclaimed. Ignoring his son's foul mouth, Gaster smirked.

"Indeed, I did _kick human ass_ ," he answered with a proud glimmer in his eyes. He came to like that term. _Kick human ass_. He was going to remember that phrase.

"I was mostly doing science-related things to help the monster soldiers. Maybe it didn't seem like much, but we all probably would've have died if I hadn't helped in some way. Maybe that's why King Asgore made me the Royal Scientist and not..." He stopped in the middle of his sentence. He knew what he was about to say, but he didn't want to say it. The name of her was only going to spiral his emotions out of control, as usual. Then, his mind traced off suddenly, without any warning.

* * *

 

_It wasn’t very often that the Royal Scientists were requested to participate in the war. They weren’t even official soldiers; just people who knew their way around science well enough to benefit their monster powers. Typically the scientists helped with making equipment, powers, or weapons stronger (thanks to the help of science, of course). It wasn’t often that they’d have to physically help out in the war._

_But when those times came, the times of their king calling them in a panic to help them… that’s how they knew it was brutal._

_“Please hear me out,” the sore, raspy voice of King Asgore pleaded. “I need you both to get to Fallton and use your scientific powers to help us. We’re quickly losing soldiers! I think your combined powers, thanks to your scientific elements, can help us.”_

_“Understood,” one of the two Royal Scientists answered. She hung up her phone and began throwing on gear glowing in monster magic. She also tossed gear to her lab partner, the other Royal Scientist. A shirt, pants, shoes, armor, and a helmet. All the clothing was covered in scientific magic that was suspected to help ease any physical pain for the wearer of the clothes. The other scientist stared at the monster gear that he held in front of him, too paralyzed to put it on._

_“Come on G,” the female scientist said as she opened the door, leading to a staircase. She looked back at him, noticing his idle stand. She sighed impatiently._

_“Gaster. We have to go.” The male scientist, Gaster, remained silent as he threw on the gear._

_“Um… G?”_

_“Arial…” Gaster began, “are you sure you want to do this?”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Do you want to go out there and risk yourself in the war? It’s… It’s not worth losing you.” Gaster swallowed crippling fear, shaking._

_“I don’t really have a choice,” Arial replied. “Neither of us do. As important parts of the monster society, it’s our duty to carry our weight in this war.”_

_“I know… I’m just… scared…” Gaster replied._

_“Oh, G.” Arial laughed. “You’re always so scared. So bold… yet so scared.” Her grin wiped off her face when she noticed he was being serious this time. He was genuinely afraid. It wasn't the kind of fear of messing up a simple experiment, something that could always be fixed in a second experiment. No… this was the fear of losing his life._

_Because if he messed up, he wouldn’t have a second chance._

_“Oh, I get it now,” Arial whispered. “You’re scared of messing up and dying. But G… we’ve been preparing for this moment since the war started. We know what to do. We know how to handle these humans. We can do this-”_

_“I’m not exactly scared of losing myself,” Gaster interrupted. “I’m scared of my mistakes… getting you killed…” He rubbed his forearms with his hands, able to feel chills running through his body._

_“Gaster… don’t **ever** be afraid of getting me killed,” Arial whispered. “If I die, it’ll be because of the humans. And if that’s the case, I’ll do it with a big grin on my face. Because even if I die, I’ll know I did my job with all the determination in me.” She grabbed Gaster’s hands and forced him to look at her. “I’m going to be fine. We both will… ok?”_

_“O...Ok,” Gaster answered. “Thank… Thank you.” He felt comfortable again. Safe, confident, and secure. He felt bold, not scared._

_And it was all because of Arial._

_“Alright… let’s go,” Arial said with a giggly smile. “Time to show these humans what us scientists are capable of.” She snapped a wink at her lab assistant. Gaster chuckled with glowing blush covering his face. Arial shared the smile back._

_“Let’s go,” Gaster said. The Royal Scientists of the monsters left the safety of their lab in the basement of the monster castle._

_Gaster and Arial were ready to face the war, head on._

* * *

 

_“Take this, you puny monster!” a human soldier shouted in fury. He punctured a sword into a lifeless Whimsun, immediately painting it with dust. The battlefield, that once was a peaceful monster village, was glittered of dust. A few human bodies with small pools of blood were here and there too, but it was obvious that the monsters were losing the Battle of Fallton._

_“Keep fighting!” a Froggit croaked to another Froggit. “We got this! We’ve just got to keep going!”_

_"Are you sure we do?" the second Froggit whispered. "Look at us. We're down to less than ten soldiers. And the humans have lost only four or five soldiers. We're obviously outnumbered."_

_"Don't worry man," a Loox reassured. "Just keep hope. We can survive this battle!"_

_"No we won't!" the second Froggit exclaimed. "We're all going to die! We won't live! This is all hopeless!" The Loox, who didn't know what to say, simply tightened his grip on his spear and charged for a human. The two Froggits watched in horror as the Loox was speared with a sword and turned into dust as well._

_"Well... maybe you were right," the first Froggit croaked hopelessly. Both the Froggits croaked out cries for help as a circle of humans began to close in on them._

_"Stop right there, you filthy humans!" a voice yelled behind the humans. The five soldiers, who looked hungry to finish off the Froggits once and for all, turned around to look for where the voice came from. Standing behind them were two skeleton-like monsters, both equipped with glowing clothes. Neither one of them were carrying weapons, making the humans snicker with glee._

_"Oh, this'll be so easy," one of the male humans laughed. "I can handle both of these monsters without breaking a sweat. While I'm fighting these maniacs, I want the rest of you to finish off those Froggits."_

_"Understood, captain," the only female human there said bravely. She and the other three soldiers turned around to find that the Froggits, along with any other monster soldiers, had all escaped!_

_"Wh... What happened?!" the first of the three male soldiers exclaimed. "They were here just a moment ago!"_

_"Well, Matt, they probably escaped because you weren't keeping an eye on them!" the second male soldier yelled._

_"Nuh-uh, that wasn't my fault!" the first soldier exclaimed. "Why don't we blame Harold for this?! He's the one who always seems to screw up all the time!"_

_"Guys... don't put the blame on me..." the third male soldier said, full of embarrassment and guilt._

_"All three of you shut up!" the female soldier yelled. "It's all your faults! It's Matt's, Ethan's, and Harold's fault. All_ **three of you**!"

_"Yet we can't put any blame on you, can we Taylor?" the first soldier, Matt, questioned. "No, we can't. Because you're a girl!" The other two male soldiers gasped in shock as the female soldier, Taylor, angrily eyed him._

_"Oh... you did not just go there," she growled. She tackled Matt and wrestled him as the other two guys whooped and hollered at the two of them._

_"ENOUGH!" the captain yelled. "You all have caused enough trouble! Go back to the castle and wait for further instructions from me! Go! Now!" The four soldiers looked at each other awkwardly before quietly leaving the scene between the captain and the two skeletons._

_"Now... where were we?" the human captain growled. "Oh, right." He brought out his sword, which was covered in dust. Despite the dust, however, it still glowed in pride._

_"Oh, that's right. You two don't even have weapons." The captain snickered in arrogance as he stepped closer towards the skeletons._

_"Or so you think," Arial growled. Her hands glowed in pink monster magic, causing the captain to take a couple steps back. He put his sword back into his belt, guessing it was worthless at the moment. Gaster followed Arial's lead, his hands glowing a green magical color. Right in front of the human's eyes, two giant skulls appeared above them._

_"Say hello to our little friends... or what we'd like to call... our Gasterblasters," Gaster snickered. He and Arial moved their arms in beauty, directing their weapons towards the human. The Gasterblasters opened their mouths, and blue monster magic flowed out. It blasted towards the human, who gasped in shock of the sight._

_Captain Pat attempted to dodge every bit of monster magic thrown towards him. It was a tough battle to endure, especially on his own. He did get hit a few times, and he had to admit that these monsters were strong. Now he had wished he hadn't sent his soldiers away, especially his strongest, Taylor._

_"If only I could get just one blow on them..." Captain Pat muttered under his breath, clutching his left arm where he had been hit most recently. Then an idea popped into his head. He looked over at the sword in his belt, and pulled out the shining tool. What if he could reflect the magic of the Gasterblasters... from his sword?_

_"This one should do it for him," Gaster whispered. "He isn't moving much, so he must be weakening. This will be easy."_

_"Don't underestimate him, G," Arial muttered. "We don't know what these humans are capable of." Gaster kept his mouth shut, unfortunately knowing that was true, and prepared his final attack. Arial did the same, not holding anything back._

_"This... is... it..." Captain Pat whispered to himself in-between heavy, exhausted breaths. He saw the two Gasterblasters, one on each side of him, beginning to glitter with the magic._

_It was time._

_When the first Gasterblaster fired its magic, Pat yanked out his sword and angled it towards Arial. The strong, uncontrollable magic bounced off of the sword and directed its way to Arial. She gasped as she saw it flying towards her, knowing it was too fast for her to avoid._

_"ARIAL!" Gaster yelled. He ran and shoved her away, causing him to be the victim to the first part of Pat's brilliant, yet cruel, plan. He collapsed onto the ground, weak. It was just one attack, but it was an attack meant to kill Captain Pat._

_And that attack had the strength to kill him._

_"G...?" Arial gasped as she tried to throw herself back onto her feet and slaughter Pat for what he did. But before she could even think of standing, she felt the power of her Gasterblaster pummel through her chest. With faded pupils and weak knees, she felt herself slam back onto the ground._

_The cruel laughs of Captain Pat filled her ears once again. He knew he won. One more sentence came out of his rotten mouth before leaving to try and destroy another monster town. He kicked Arial with the heel of his boot and said, "Remember: we are the ones in control."_

_That was the last thing Arial heard before feeling her soul shattering and her body disappearing into dust._

* * *

 

_(Start music suggestion now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOaPkH9SmY4 &index=14&list=LLnZ3WTkGJAdaKqO8tga9SFg)_

_"Arial... Arial..." a voice muttered. It was dark. Everything was dark. It kept getting darker. It felt like a black hole full of darkness, and falling deeper and deeper in led to just more darkness. It was a world of dark, where light seemed to run away, never to be seen again._

_"Where is she?!" he screamed as he jolted awake. He stopped suddenly and looked around. He was in a room... in a bed. He could feel bandages covering his face, his body... he ached so much._

_The last thing he remembered was shoving Arial away from the Gasterblaster. The human had managed to turn their weapon against them, and he knew he had to save her. So he sacrificed himself. He put himself in front of one of the deadliest weapons known to monster science._

_Gaster was in a monster hospital._

_"hOI!" a voice screeched, causing Gaster to jump out of his thoughts. He looked at a small Temmie waiting by the entrance of the room._

_"What?" Gaster snapped, startled by the sudden yelp._

_"hE's AwAKe!" Temmie screeched. "yOUr MaJESTY, hE IS AWAke!" She hurried out of Gaster's hospital room, causing him to sigh in relief and lay back down. Temmie was always one of those monsters that he... had a small tolerance dealing with._

_"Oh, Gaster!" a friendly voice greeted, sounding reliefed. He sat back up, clutching his head as it ached, to find the queen standing in his room._

_"Queen Toriel!" Gaster exclaimed. "It is good to see you again! Well... not in this way."_

_"I am happy to see you too... you seem to be doing well," Toriel commented. "Well... kind of. For someone who got attacked and nearly killed by a monster weapon, you're holding up."_

_"I'm trying," he chuckled. Then he gasped suddenly. "Arial. Where is she? Is she ok?!" Toriel bit her lip worriedly, not knowing what to say. She walked away from where Gaster was sitting and opened a cabinet close by. "Toriel... answer me. Is. Arial. Ok."_

_"Arial was attacked as well... I'm sorry..." Toriel whispered. She pulled out a jar of dust. Gaster felt a knot in his stomach tie up even more when he saw the jar. She was..._

_"She didn't make it."_

_Toriel handed the jar of dust to Gaster, knowing he'd want it. He held the jar gingerly in his hands, making sure to not break it. He felt warm tears roll down his eyes, despite how much it pained him because of his head._

_He couldn't save her._

* * *

 

"Dad... Dad... DAD!"

Gaster shook himself out of his daydream. He could feel fresh tears in his eyes, thinking about the worst day of his life. He couldn't save his partner, his best friend.

His soulmate.

"Dad, are you ok?" Sans asked as he forced Gaster to sit down in a chair. He could see the pain and dizziness in his eyes. Gaster grabbed his head and took deep breaths.

"I'm fine," he whispered. "I'm fine. It's ok." As he regained his sanity and looked around the lab, he noticed an item on his highest shelf. The jar with Arial's dust in it. Her dust was the only way to remember her, and it was his key motivation to get out of the Underground.

Gaster was reminded why he was doing this project with Sans in the first place. Mercy and peace for the victims of the war. Especially Arial.

"M-Maybe... we can start the experiment tomorrow," Sans suggested. "You don't look too well. How does that sound?" Gaster looked back at his son. He smiled and nodded.

"Yeah... tomorrow," Gaster whispered. "Um... can you go and let the Riverman know we need a ride back to Snowdin? I'll meet you there in a minute." Sans nodded and walked out of the Hotland lab, looking back at his father a couple times before exiting.

Gaster stood up slowly and walked over to his cabinets. He grabbed a stepping stool and grabbed the jar of dust from the highest shelf. He held it closely, still able to feel Arial's soul with his.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Arial. But I'm doing this for you now. I'm doing this for you." He placed it back on the highest shelf, wanting to protect one of the most sacred things in his life, and walked to the entrance of his lab. He looked back one last time before leaving.

"Goodbye, Arial."


	4. Boss Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Never go backward. Attempt, and do it with all your might. Determination is power." ~Charles Simmons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I don't have a good excuse for why it's taken me so long to write this chapter. All I can say is this: Summer. Reading. Kicked. My. Ass. It got in the way of my typical writing schedule, and I'm disappointed in myself for not being able to juggle writing and summer homework. If I can't do that, how am I going to be able to juggle actual school and writing?  
> Another reason it took me so long to write was not wanting to leave out anything informational or critical, especially with dialogue. So I've been putting a lot of thought into this chapter, especially since this is an important one. I'm really hoping that after this chapter is done, I'll be able to write the action-packed chapters easier and quicker.  
> But enough of that. Again, I am so, SO sorry about my delayed writing. I was really afraid this would happen, and it did. I'll try to be better about writing more. But for now, enjoy this chapter.

He was never 100% better after that. The terrifying flashbacks of the war and his partner dying kept coming back to him over and over. He couldn’t seem to catch a break; they were constantly rattling his mind.

After the war and what happened with Arial, he couldn’t really ever get over it. He did meet someone new, married her, and had his two kids with her. It helped subside his internal torture over the war and his true lover. Losing his wife brought back the flashbacks, and he’d be lying if he said he was fine after that. The traumatic flashback the previous day with Sans in the room was a simple example of his daily turmoil.

But Gaster decided to use the awful flashbacks to fuel his determination.

W.D Gaster and Sans returned to his lab the next day to _actually_ start on the project. That day was used for planning, since there wasn’t a very solid idea of what exactly they were going to do to break the barrier.

“Our options are very limited due to the fact that being inside a barrier leaves us with all the science materials we have,” Gaster explained. “We have to make a plan with the things we have. We can’t rely on plans that involve science that is far away from our reach. When we were on the surface, the humans had much more advanced science than us. But we didn’t get much of it before they turned on us and sent us down here. So we’ll just have to use anything down here."

“Gotcha, G,” Sans said. Gaster shot a glance at his son. It was a strong look, but it wavered. That was his old nickname that Arial gave him, and hearing the nickname again made shivers crawl all over him.

“I’m still your father, you know,” Gaster reminded him, giving him a look that very much resembled a parent ready to discipline their child.

“Sorry, _Dad_ ,” Sans smirked. Gaster shook his head and took a notepad and pen from his desk. He sat on a couch with his son.

“Ideas,” he said as he wrote it on the notepad. “So… you want to start with an idea?”

“How am I supposed to come up with a plan?” Sans chuckled. “I know nothing about science.”

“Oh come on, there must be a genius plan somewhere in that thick skull of yours,” Gaster said with a laugh.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get your _jeans_ ,” Sans joked. As he waited for his dad to laugh, staring at him with a giant grin, Gaster simply sighed and covered his face with his hands.

“You are just like your mother, it’s scary sometimes,” he groaned.

“She must’ve been a scary skeleton, huh?” Sans giggled, not really knowing what his mother was like. She died shortly after Papyrus was born, leaving him with limited memories of her.

“I guess you could say she had a skele- _ton_ of jokes,” Gaster said with a small smile. The room fell silent. Sans stared at Gaster, his eye sockets wide with glee.

“Did… Did you just make a joke?” Sans questioned, looking speechless. The two of them stared at each other for a minute.

“Just throw an idea out, son,” Gaster growled, covering his embarrassment with his notepad.

“Ok… hmm…” Sans mumbled as he looked at some of his dad’s visible science things scattered across his lab. He looked over at the bottles of determination that he had pointed out the previous day. They were still on the table, where he had tried to grab them before.

“You said humans ran on determination, or so it was suspected since King Asgore found that from humans of the war, correct?” Sans asked.

“I’m not sure 100 percent,” Gaster said. “I mean, yeah some humans run on determination. But do all humans run on determination? That we don’t know. Humans could run on other things too, like bravery or perseverance. But all we know is that a human aspect is determination.”

“Ok… well, what if we injected our souls with determination to make our souls strong enough to break the barrier? It takes seven human souls to break the barrier, but why not use monster souls with the equivalent power of human souls?” Sans’ comment caused Gaster to stare off into space, slightly shocked that he came up with something so thoughtful.

It wasn’t a bad idea. It _seemed_ logical at least; using monster souls as strong as human souls to break the barrier. Especially with the determination, so that there was a human aspect in the monster souls. But… was it safe to do? Gaster didn’t know what determination was capable of and how much of an impact it had on monster souls.

“While it sounds like a good idea, I don’t think it’s safe to use determination,” Gaster answered as he stood up and paced. Pacing always helped him think. “Even the king doesn’t know what that determination can do to monsters if it’s injected into their souls. That’s why any experiments with determination shouldn’t proceed. I do like your thinking though; making our souls as strong as human souls.”

“What can you say?” Sans snickered. “Not trying to sound bossful or anything, but I am a boss when it comes to coming up with anything clever. Especially puns.” A light bulb flickering off in Gaster’s head. His brilliant mind began to spin in action, gears spinning in his head. An idea popped up.

_(Start music suggestion now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGf8hhloYlw &list=LLnZ3WTkGJAdaKqO8tga9SFg&index=12)_

“Why didn’t I think of this before?!” Gaster exclaimed as he sprinted to some cupboards and began searching in them. Sans followed behind slowly.

“Um… what did you think of?” Sans asked.

“Boss magic,” Gaster whispered as he pulled out a jar of blue glowing magic. Sans’ eyes glimmered at the sight of the liquid. It was his fate right in front of him. His destiny… was a blue liquid containing outrageous power.

“Boss magic?” Sans whispered, his eyes still gazed on the glowing goo.

“That’s right,” Gaster said, his voice raising in pitch as he got giddy. He regained himself and cleared his throat, feeling unprofessional for his excitement. “Boss monsters have more powerful souls than regular monsters. Even being more powerful, they still aren’t as powerful as human souls. But what if we injected more boss magic into our souls than what the typical boss monster has? We may be able to suppress a human’s power. If that’s the case, we can use seven already-dead monster souls and use them to break the barrier."

“That could work…” Sans agreed. “But what if the magic is too much to handle?”

“Well… then we pass our ideas to another scientist before we die,” Gaster answered. A pang of nerves rang through Sans. He was literally risking his life for the sake of the monsters to go free. While he knew it would be worth it in the end, he didn’t want to risk his life just for the experiment to go wrong.

“Yeah… I don’t blame you for being nervous,” Gaster sighed, reading Sans’ frantic expression. “But let me tell you this… I’ve already tried putting a little bit of extra boss magic in my soul. While it’s very painful, it hasn’t done any long-lasting damage to me. But… it does explain the cracks on my skull.”

The long cracks from the top of his head to his left eye and from his right eye to his mouth were something that always scared Sans. Gaster randomly came home with them one day, in obvious pain. He never asked, for he guessed it wasn’t necessary. But it terrified him greatly to watch his dad be in that painful position.

And now he was putting himself in that position.

But if that was the worst the boss magic did to him, it wouldn’t be that bad, right? While it still wasn’t the maximum power they’d use in the experiment, it seemed harmless for the most part. Plus, for the sake of monsters, he must sacrifice a little sanity to be able to save everyone else. They all deserved a second chance in life on the surface. And if that meant a little torture, he could manage it.

“Ok…” Sans answered, feeling more confident than before. “But one question; what exactly will this boss magic do to us? How will it help us with the barrier?”  
“First off, you’ll be able to jump through timelines without your memory being erased, like other monsters’ do,” Gaster replied. “And if your soul becomes strong enough, you’ll be able to teleport. You could even teleport to places outside of the barrier if possible.”

“Wow… that’d be so cool!” Sans exclaimed. “I’m all in! I’ll do this! Not only for freeing the monsters, but getting those abilities! Do you have those abilities too Dad?”

“I can jump through timelines and I can teleport, but I cannot teleport outside of the barrier,” Gaster answered. “And until we are guaranteed that this plan works, only you will suppress the human soul’s power and try to teleport outside of the barrier. If it doesn’t work, at least I’m around to continue the plans and help you out."

“Yeah… that’s understandable,” Sans commented. “Let’s do this! I’ll do whatever it takes to help out!” Gaster chuckled.

“You’ll be a big help alright,” Gaster agreed. “So we’ll start tomorrow. We’ll go through procedures and begin injecting the boss magic.” Sans nodded eagerly, ready for whatever would slap him in the face tomorrow.

But… he wasn’t ready. He had no idea what was in store.


	5. Infinity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I was just a boy you see. I plead of thee have sympathy for me." ~The Mind Electric by Tally Hall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this starts the torture of Sans, Gaster, and Papyrus, which will last for... a while. So grab your popcorn and those tissue boxes, cause it's time for the skeleton family to begin a life-changing experiment! Wahahahahah!  
> (I don't know why, but I feel like this chapter is a little bit rushed. Maybe it's just me. But don't worry, I have many ideas for longer chapters, especially the next one. So if you feel like this is rushed, don't fret! I'll have longer chapters out very soon.)

He had no idea what was in store when he agreed to these experiments. He had no clue what kind of physical and emotional pain he’d experience. Sure, he knew it’d hurt a little. But he never imagined anything as extreme as _this_.

Sans wanted to back out, but he couldn't.

“Why… Why are you strapping me down?” Sans asked, nervously chuckling as his father strapped him against a table. Gaster sighed impatiently.

“Didn’t you listen to me at all when we were going through the procedures?” Gaster snapped. “You have to be _perfectly still_ when I’m putting this boss magic into your soul. One slip up, and your life could be on the line.”

“Well… if that’s the case… will you be my _lifeline_?” Sans joked. He shared a large, pleased grin with Gaster, only to get an exhausted frown.

“I’m so tempted to duct-tape your mouth right now,” he muttered as he dug through a bag. He pulled out gloves and stuck them on his hands.

“Since you obviously didn’t listen to my procedure, I’m going to say it again. I’m going to attach these tubes all over you. They’re attached to a machine that transfers boss magic into electricity so that it can go into your soul. When I turn the machine on, the electricity filled with boss magic will flow into your soul. I’m warning you now, it’s gonna hurt _**a lot**_. I don’t have painkillers of any sort; that’s something we couldn’t get a hold of before we got trapped down here.”

“Um… ok,” Sans answered. It sounded dangerous, but… it’d be worth it, right? I mean, hey, he’s attempting to save the monster race once and for all! He’ll be a hero! A savior! He’ll be practically worshiped by the monsters.

That is, if the experiment goes correctly. Sans was able to feel anxiety grow inside of him and fester like mold.

“Alright… are you ready?” Gaster asked. He put safety goggles on himself and Sans. He shot a look at him. “What? It’s the safest science gear we have. We might as well use it.”

_(Start music suggestion now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQR46Nw9G8)_

Gaster took the tubes attached to the boss magic machine and began to stick them on Sans, one at a time. They stuck to his face, his arms, his legs, and his torso. He reminded Sans once again that the magic would transfer through these tubes from his body to his soul. Once all of the tubes were attached, Sans realized… there really wasn’t no escaping this time. He couldn’t back out. He was stuck.

“Stay still, son,” Gaster pleaded. It almost sounded like a beg for mercy. He knew what he was doing to his son, but he knew it was right for the sake of monsters. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing for him. It wasn’t the best for Sans. It even wasn’t the best choice for Papyrus. All three of them were going to face some sort of aftermath from this experiment, whether it was physical or emotional. This wasn’t a very good choice for their family.

However, it was the best choice for monsters. So they had to risk it and just do it.

Shutting his eyes tightly, afraid for what’d happen next, he turned the machine on. Immediately, noises filled the empty atmosphere of the lab. _Boop, beep, bloop, boom_. Those noises repeated over and over again before a long _diiiiiiiiing_ could be heard.

It was time.

The blue, glowing magic could be seen traveling through the tubes, with jolts of electricity following. Sans watched with wide eyes as it inched closer and closer to him. Finally, he just looked away. He couldn’t bear to watch what was about to happen to him. He’d just have to prepare himself for whatever pain was about to endure him. But he wasn’t ready. At all.

And Sans’ last thought before his life changed was, _“Shit.”_

Jolts of electricity containing boss magic filled his bones. He screamed and cried out in pain, but he remained perfectly still. It was unbearable, feeling electricity travel all throughout him. It was burning, it was uncomfortable, it was a sharp feeling like a knife cutting through a human. He hated every second of it. He sweat in pain, feeling the sweat stick to his face. He attempted to hold back steamy tears. However, he couldn’t help but allow tears of pain to roll down his face. He looked up to see Gaster looking down at him, sharing the same tears as him.

He squinted his eyes, trying to avoid eye contact with him. As he felt the tears continue to seep out of his sockets and roll down his face, he tried to brace the pain. But no matter how many times he thought he could get used to the pain, more pain would come. It was never ending. When would it stop? Can it stop?

The pain was lasting for infinity.

* * *

 

“Sans… Sans… wake up please…” a quiet voice whispered. It was wavy at first, and it was barely even audible. But as Sans felt himself gain consciousness, he was able to hear his dad’s comforting voice. He opened his eyes quickly, finding himself still lying on the table. He wasn’t strapped anymore, and the tubes were gone.

“D...Dad?” he muttered. “What happened?”

“You passed out during the experiment, which was kind of better because you stayed completely still,” Gaster answered. “I passed out the first time I did that too, so don’t worry. Luckily, the experiment went according to plan. Your life isn’t in any danger. However, you’re going to start experiencing some side effects from this.”

“Like… what…?” Sans asked, still half-awake.

“Oh, like dizziness, passing out, nightmares, nausea or throwing up… stuff like that,” Gaster answered. “I could’ve sworn I had a full list here somewhere.” He threw papers around, searching for the list of side effects.

“Finally, you’re being sloppy,” Sans giggled. “That’s more my taste, Dad.”

“I’ll just clean it later,” he muttered. “Ah, here it is! So you’ll have all those things I listed and may also experience migraines, blurry vision, and weak joints. Most of the time, I only had nightmares and migraines. I occasionally had memory loss, but you probably won’t have that. I don’t think you’ll have many of these symptoms.”

“O...Ok,” Sans whispered, trying to relax more. He felt tense after the experiment, and he already felt sore and exhausted. He just wanted to go home and sleep for weeks and weeks.

“So in order to keep up with the boss magic, we’ll have to do this three times a week,” Gaster continued, looking at more papers that probably were unrelated to their experiment. “So we’ll go back tomorrow and the day after to finish up this week. Then we can figure out which days you want to do next week. Sound good?”

“Yeah… sounds good…” Sans muttered. _Three_ times a week he’d have to do this. _**Three**_. He felt even more pained just thinking about how many times he would be going under the same procedure as that day. He groaned a little, having a desire to cry.

This was going to suck.


	6. Hysteria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it." ~J.K Rowling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So remember when I said in the notes of the previous chapter that I had really good ideas for the next chapter? Well... I mixed some chapters up when typing out my plan for the book. So I actually meant the NEXT chapter. Despite that, I am pretty excited with this chapter. Sorry about that though, lol... but I PROMISE the next chapter will be amazing! Be prepared wahahah!  
> I also apologize for how late this chapter was. My computer has been doing really bad lately and has been crashing a bunch, so... that's not good. But I'll figure it out, don't worry!  
> Here's a lovely music suggestion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJzQKlszNWI&index=5&list=LLnZ3WTkGJAdaKqO8tga9SFg

On a scale of 1-10, Sans probably would’ve rated the amount of pain he felt on the first day as a 4000. While it was awful and unbearable, he didn’t worry too much about it. He experienced side effects afterwards, and the pain was still mind-torturing, but he thought it would begin to get bearable after a week or two.

Boy, was he wrong.

No, it got far worse. Whenever he was getting the magic drained into his soul, it was like a claw scratching at him over and over, all over him. Constant, clawing pain that painted over him like a shade of torture. As he continued having more and more days of the experiment, it got worse and worse. The opposite of his expectations happened, and he hated it.

Plus, he didn’t get a break on the days when he wasn't doing the experiments. The side effects always found ways to torture him all day and all night. They started off small, making Sans occasionally dizzy or making him queasy a couple times. Then they sharply escalated. The more the experiments continued, the worse he got. Pounding migraines, stomach-twisting vomiting, nightmares filled with insomnia. He couldn't escape it.

But it would all be worth it, right? Right? _Right?!_ He had to do this. He already had such high expectations of himself, and so did everyone else. The monsters did. Papyrus did. His friends did.

_His father did._

Sans refused to allow himself to let anyone down. So he surrendered himself to the constant pain. He felt like he was sacrificing his sanity for the sake of others’ happiness. He was trading his self-worth for hysteria. At the time, it felt worth it. But what would happen when their experiments were finished, and he was stuck with a bunch of useless magic trapped in his soul, which would only hurt him?

This answer he’d have to find out himself.

After a month of this, a special day came. The day where he’d finally reach the equal amount of boss magic as his father. If everything went as planned, he would earn the abilities to jump through timelines without having his memory erased and teleport. A short month ago, Sans thought this day would be so _exciting_ , earning new abilities and neat tricks!

He wasn’t excited anymore.

“Let’s just get it over with,” Sans muttered as he laid on the lab table. He even strapped himself in after Gaster hesitated. “I just want this to be done.” Gaster simply nodded his head, understanding the pain his son currently was in. He adjusted the straps holding Sans on the table and began the procedures for the experiment.

“Ready?” Gaster asked. With all the tubes attached to Sans and the machine ready to fire magic into his soul, Sans nodded and braced himself. No matter how much he braced himself, however, he couldn't be ready. This experiment was going to be different. The machine’s power was increased, for the amount of magic having to be added to his soul was far more than the previous times. The machine had to be more powerful to handle a task that large, making the experiment far more worse for Sans. Gaster crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping the same thing that happened to him wouldn’t happen to Sans.

And he turned the machine on.

There wasn’t even a warning before the magic began to shoot into Sans. He gasped in sudden shock, the electricity already making its way through him. He gripped both hands tightly on the side of the table, trying to shake off the thought of pain. This was far worse than any time before. When he thought the pain couldn’t get any worse… _**it got worse**_.

Continuous electricity jolting in shocks blasted through him. He jumped every time, feeling the waves the magic was coming in. Each time another surge of boss magic was forced into his soul, he could feel his soul getting stronger. He could feel the electrical power wriggling in his soul. It should feel good. He should be so ecstatic. He should… be… happy… but he wasn’t. The wriggling in his soul was so painful and so sorrowful.

 _“I don’t want this anymore…”_ he thought. And that was his last thought for a while.

* * *

 

When he opened his eyes, his vision was blurry. He immediately recognized the place however; he was still in Gaster’s lab, on the table. All of the tubes were gone, and the pain was temporarily gone. He didn’t get too comfortable, however, for he knew that wouldn’t last long at all.

“Oh Sans, thank goodness you’re ok!” Gaster cried. He threw his arms around him, looking frantic yet relieved.

“Dad…?” Sans muttered.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “You fainted during the experiment, and you were out of it for a few days now. I almost lost you a couple times, but I was able to recover you in time. That was terrifying though… the same thing happened to me when I did that.” He was silent for a minute, staring at the floor. The guilt was too much to handle for the miserable scientist.

“I know you just got up, but we need to see if you can teleport or not,” Gaster whispered. “Can you stand?” Although his limbs were a little weak from not standing in days, Sans was capable of standing. “Focus all of your energy on a specific location. Try… right outside of Grillby’s. If the experiments worked, you should be able to teleport there.”

“Ok…” Sans responded. He lightly closed his eyes and thought of Grillby’s. He could feel the energy from every single one of his bones traveling to his soul. He could feel his own energy draining out of his hands, feet, and head and going to his chest. Then, he felt a slight pain in his chest. He opened his eyes to see a dark blue, heart-shaped light coming out of his chest.

It was his soul… his boss monster soul. It was working.

The next thing Sans knew, he was standing outside of Grillby’s. Feeling overwhelmed by the sudden transition, he looked around in astonishment. He did it… he teleported. With a wide smile and tired eyes, he looked around in amazement of what he had just done. He also noticed that there were a few monsters who had stopped what they were doing and stared at him with large eyes and dropped jaws, for he wasn’t there half a second ago.

 _“Oh… this is awkward haha,”_ Sans thought, realizing that the monsters were completely unaware of what had just happened. _“I… I should probably go back.”_ Repeating the process he did before, Sans’ chest lit up in blue and he vanished. The monsters still looking at him grew pale with fear, not understanding what sort of power he had.

“You did it!” Gaster yelled, hugging Sans the second he teleported back to the lab. Sans, feeling very proud of the progress he made, hugged his father back. “I’m so proud of you Sans. I really am. You’ve been doing so awesome with these labs.” Those words hit Sans like a brick wall. His father… was _**proud**_. That was what he wanted to hear this whole time… that he was proud of him.

Nothing was better than feeling loved.

“Sans…” Gaster began, letting go of his hug. He took a deep breath. “Are you willing to do more?”

“Do more?” Sans questioned.

“Yes… more experiments,” Gaster answered. “If we want to see if it’s possible to reach the power of a human soul and cross the barrier, we’ll need to add more magic to your soul. If you’re willing to, of course. If not… I can do it.”

Sans pondered on the request for a few minutes. He was allowed to be off the hook and end these terrible experiments. This was his moment to run from his fears and never look back. But… he’d already gone so far. He’d done so much progress. He didn’t want to throw that away. Plus, so many people were looking up to him. The monsters, his friends, Papyrus. His dad… his dad could be risking his life if he wouldn't. Who was more important; him, a jokester who hadn't done much in life, or his father, an intelligent, successful scientist? Sans took a deep breath. He had to do what was right.

“Y-Yes… I’ll do it,” Sans answered. He felt like he was swallowing his pride at that moment. He was throwing away any self-worth he had left for everybody else. While he felt like it would be worth it… what if anything went wrong? Would it be worth it then?

Sans knew he had made a terrible mistake.


	7. For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We accept the love we think we deserve." ~Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT IT HAS BEEN OVER A MONTH!! I am so so SO sorry! I really... did not think I'd fall this behind in my writing. Life has been sort of hectic for many reasons. Just... school stuff, theatre stuff, and... personal stuff. Plus my computer is a piece of junk that restarts all the time, and writing on my phone sucks lol. But holy crap, I'm trying so hard to get myself on some sort of schedule to be able to balance school and writing, and it just never works because I literally never have time to write. I mean, I'll find a way. I will.  
> Moving on... I'm so excited for this chapter. This one was so much fun to write, let me tell you. ;) It's honestly so much fun to make characters have internal conflict and create traits out of it. I'm also sooo excited for where the book goes after this too. Hopefully after writing this huge chunk of a chapter, writing becomes a little more natural for me. So... enjoy this! And again... sorry about how long this took.

Yes... he made a terrible mistake. How could he have been so selfless? So dumb? So clueless? What made him think going back was remotely smart? Why? Why? Why?

Those were the kind of questions that kept him up night after night, following his migraines, his nightmares, and his vomiting.

Sans was living a life of agony, and he wanted it to end. But he was already so far... he couldn't stop now. He had to keep pushing, keep going, keep running. How much farther would he have to go? He didn't know, but he felt like he couldn't run much further.

Due to the unbearable symptoms, growing worse by day, along with the experiments three times a week, which also were increasing in power each time, Sans changed. A lot. He had no more motivation for anything. He had no more courage, no more bravery, no more will. Those traits of his personality were swapped with cowardness, fear, and laziness. The only time he ever went out of the house was to go to the lab and do the experiments, and even then all he'd do was teleport with his father. His demeanor changed drastically.

And now he was really going to be put to the test.

“Sorry, we’d do the experiment today as usual, but some last-minute meetings with Asgore came up,” Gaster whispered as he looked over at Sans, who was lying on the couch. He continued to pack his briefcase as he talked. “We’ll just have to move it to tomorrow if that’s ok.” Not responding, Sans threw a thumbs-up to him. “Ok… just letting you know now, the symptoms may be a little more drastic than usual. Y’know, just because of us going off-schedule a little.” There wasn’t a response to that. Gaster sighed sadly, feeling Sans’ emotional pain.

“Make sure Papyrus doesn’t do anything crazy today, ok?” Gaster added with a chuckle following as an attempt to lighten the mood. He barely saw Sans’ skull bob up and down in understanding. Gaster took a deep breath, feeling intense guilt about leaving Sans home alone with his younger brother for the whole day. He picked up his briefcase and headed towards the front door.

“I’m not sure when I’ll be back, but there’s food in the fridge... or you can go to Grillby’s, either choice is fine,” Gaster sighed. “Just tell Grillby to put whatever you get on my tab if you end up going there. I’ll be back… whenever I'm done, probably late tonight. Bye Sans.” Gaster hesitated before closing the front door, but he did eventually.

_“Finally, peace and quiet today,”_ Sans thought. _“Is today going to suck? Probably. But will I be able to at least try to relax? Yes.”_

“SANS!” a voice rang through the house. Sans groaned stressfully and angrily and threw a pillow over his face. He muttered, "Please not now."

“Sans, your room is an absolute mess!” Papyrus exclaimed while walking down the stairs to the main level. “You need to clean it up right now!”

“Not right now Paps,” Sans mumbled with his hands shoving the pillow deeper into his face. “I’m not feeling up to it right now.”

“Nyeh, Sans, you never feel up to it! Why can’t you just get it over with now?! You’re lazybones, that’s all you are.”

“You don’t understand Paps,” Sans muttered. “Please just leave me alone…” Turning to one side, his back facing him, Sans buried his face deeper into his pillow and threw a blanket over him. Papyrus stared down at his brother with a large frown on his face.

“Fine, I’ll just clean it myself!” Papyrus growled. He stomped upstairs to clean Sans’ room.

Truthfully, Papyrus should’ve felt furious with Sans. He wanted him to do a simple chore, and he brushed it away like it was nothing. He should be gushing with anger that he had to do his work! But he didn’t. He felt… concerned. Sans wasn’t acting like himself. This was the total opposite of his demeanor.

Whatever was bothering Sans, Papyrus hoped he’d get over it soon. He wanted his brother back.

A few hours passed, and Sans’ room was finally cleaned. Or at least as clean as it could be. Papyrus was very satisfied with himself and his accomplishment. Now… how was Sans going to pay him back for his good deed?

“Ah, he can clean the kitchen for me!” Papyrus exclaimed. Happy with his punishment for his lazy, older brother, he skipped downstairs to deliver the news to him.

“Saaaaaaans!” he sang out with a merry tone. “I have a job for youuuuu!” He stopped in his tracks when he saw… Sans… not sleeping?

He looked totally out of it though. Staring straight ahead, he stared at the wall with wide eyes and his mouth slightly open. His pupils were large, and his eyes were glazed over. He had sat up, but there was a slight slouch in his position. He looked like he was in a trance. He did not look like himself.

Papyrus hesitated to step forward, not knowing what to do. He never saw Sans be that way before. How was _he_ supposed to react? He simply waved a hand in front of Sans’ face, but he reacted in no way. A wave of nerves filled Papyrus’ bones as he tried clapping in front of Sans’ face. He jumped suddenly, being snapped out of his trance.

“P… Paps?” Sans muttered, sounding weak. A layer of sweat was forming on his forehead as he felt chills spread through him. “What… What happened?”

“I don’t know, you were just sitting there like that when I came downstairs!” Papyrus exclaimed. “I came down to tell you that… um… you should clean the kitchen since I cleaned your room. Uh… do you feel up to it?”

“Not… Not now Paps,” Sans muttered. He attempted to stand up, although he felt very fatigued and weak on his own. “I’m sorry, I know how much you _**love**_ having the house clean, but-” Being out of breath and completely weak, Sans’ sentence was cut off.

He felt numb, his chest tightening and his limbs becoming stiff. The words that were about to come out of his mouth became stuck to his mouth. He fell to the ground, too weak to stand, as he felt the world around him go blurry. Slowly and suddenly, darkness began to swallow Sans whole.

And he spontaneously passed out.

“Sans!” Papyrus yelled, shocked by his brother collapsing onto the floor. He picked his small brother up, feeling the need to step in and help him.

But how? He didn’t know what was wrong with him.

The most Papyrus could do was let him rest. So he took Sans to his recently-cleaned room and put him in his bed. Then he left him alone. Closing the door to his room, Papyrus sighed and buried his head into his hands.

_“What is wrong with Sans?”_ Papyrus thought to himself. _“He’s sick. Or he seems it at least. But… this demeanor of his has been lasting for a while. Is something bothering him? Does he need someone to rant to? What can I do? Well… I guess the most I can do is be the most supportive younger brother possible!”_

Papyrus’ mission for that day was supposed to be making the house as clean as clean could be. But Sans was a larger priority than cleanliness… sometimes. Especially today though, he was definitely a larger priority. So Papyrus’ new priority was to make Sans feel like himself again.

All morning, Papyrus was cooking. It took many trials and errors, but he managed to make the perfect meal for him! It was his proudest dish yet; he was even more proud of it than the plate of spaghetti that his father choked down with a painless smile on his face. This was going to really make Sans feel better again. Papyrus knew of that.

“Knock, knock… I’m coming in, Sans,” Papyrus said with a hearty smile. He walked in with a plate and a bowl in his hands. “Ah, hello my brother! I am glad to see you are awake! Are you feeling better after a well-deserved nap?”

“...Sure,” Sans answered after a very awkward pause.

“Good!” Papyrus exclaimed. “I have some food that I made for you to help the appetite you must have right now!”

“I actually am not that hun-” Sans began.

“Oh quiet down, you’re always hungry!” Papyrus said with a meaningful laugh. “Here, just try it!” Papyrus placed the plate and bowl onto Sans’ bed. One plate had somewhat decent-looking pasta on it, and the bowl was full of a foggy-looking soup. Sans cringed at the food, really not feeling famished enough to eat it, but he wanted to make his brother happy. He was already feeling nauseous in general though, since nausea was one of the side effects, and the food wasn’t helping. The stingy aroma especially made his stomach turn.

“Come on Sans!” Papyrus exclaimed. “Eat it!” Sans hesitated as he stared at the food sitting in front of him. “Come on… please?! You need to eat!” Sans glanced over at Papyrus, who had a desperate, pleading look in his eyes. Sans sighed and nodded, agreeing that he’d eat.

After all, he did want to make his brother happy.

So he choked down the sour-tasting soup and the rock-hard spaghetti. He pretended to enjoy every moment of it, although he was mentally in turmoil. With a combination of his intense exhaustion, unhappy digestive system, and inability to do practically anything, he felt like throwing up.

Wait.

Head hung over the toilet, he threw up all the food Papyrus had worked so hard to make for him. Each time he coughed and hacked made Sans feel worse and worse, but he couldn’t help it. While the food was unappetizing, and his stomach would have rejected the food anyway, vomiting was one of the symptoms his father mentioned during the experiments. And it was very unusual for him to be experiencing it, especially since the tests hadn’t gotten that intense yet. He had only experienced the symptom a couple of times, so it was even more strange.

Papyrus’ food must’ve pushed him over the edge.

“I’m so sorry, brother!” Papyrus cried, his regret worse than anything he experienced. “I… I just wanted you to feel better! I wanted to make you well! I know I’m a bad chef, but… still! I’ll do better next time, I promise!”

“It’s not your fault,” Sans muttered, breathing heavily. He regained his breath and slowly stood up, leaning against the bathroom counter for support.

“But… but I-”

“It’s. Not. Your fault.” Sans’ eye glowed with fury, lighting in electric blue magic. Papyrus stood frozen in his stance, terrified to see his brother that way. But right away, Sans’ blue eye disappeared as he clenched his head in pain.

“I’m going to go lay down. I have a hell of a migraine.”

“Do you want help to your be-”

“I got it.” Avoiding Papyrus, Sans stumbled his way to his room. Papyrus lingered for a few seconds, waiting for his dizziness to take him over and collapse. But he didn’t, and he made it to his bed safely. Leaving Papyrus alone to sit in his guilt.

“If I weren’t so _stupid_ and _helpless_ and _such a bad chef_...” Papyrus grumbled. Fresh tears grew in his eye sockets as he mentally apologized over and over. He wanted to help him. He wanted to make him better. He didn’t know why he was in such agony and sadness, but he wanted to help. He wanted to see his brother happy again.

And he failed.

_(Start music suggestion now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-DZpeRjvk)_

Trying to hold in all his tears made his skull ache with misery. So he finally let his tears flow down his face, releasing the pressure in his face. He sobbed and sobbed for what felt like hours, occasionally looking at the door that led to Sans’ room. His sniffling, cries, and whimpers filled the emptiness of the small house.

After Papyrus was able to regain himself from his breakdown, he decided to get Sans Grillby’s as a way to apologize from the horrible lunch he made for him. He dragged himself up the stairs and lightly knocked on Sans’ door.

“Sans?” Papyrus called. “I’m going to, um… go to Grillby’s to get you dinner. Do you… want anything?” He waited patiently for his brother to respond.

There was no response.

“Brother? Please, I want to make up for how awful I was earlier. I want to make you happy, and I know… I know Grillby’s is your favorite. Can you… please tell me what you want?” After that, the only response Papyrus got was a couple pained cries from inside the room.

“Alright… I’m breaking the door down,” Papyrus muttered. He immediately regretted saying that, for he hated breaking things. Plus the thought of replacing a door irritated him, even if he knew deep down he’d do it. So instead of breaking it down, he opened it.

He had forgotten it was unlocked.

“S...Sans?” Papyrus whispered. His brother was lying in his bed, fast asleep. He was thrashing a little, and he looked stunned with fear. Sweat was beaded on his face… his terrified, terrified face.

Nightmare. It was an awful, awful nightmare. And Sans was trapped in it.

“Sans, wake up!” Papyrus cried as he shook his brother. He attempted everything to get him to wake up. He shook him, poured cold water on him, and even played that cursed tuba that he always kept in his room. Nothing worked.

“Please Sans… I’m sorry… I want to help you, and I never know how to,” Papyrus squeaked. He sank to his knees, sobbing into his hands. “I just want to help you. I want to help…” He continued crying loudly, hoping that maybe his wails would be enough to take Sans back to reality. He just cried and cried and cried.

“Papyrus?” a weak voice muttered. Papyrus stopped crying and looked up from his hands. Sans was awake, not good, but awake.

“Sans!” Papyrus jumped up and hugged him. “I was so worried! I came in here and you were stuck in a nightmare and it was so terrifying and I didn’t know what to do-”

“It’s ok.” Papyrus stopped running his mouth and looked down at his exhausted brother. “It’s ok. I woke up when I heard you crying. Which means you technically did help me out of my nightmare. So… thank you.” More happy tears filled Papyrus’ eye sockets as he felt proud for helping his brother.

“Of course brother,” Papyrus whispered. “I’m… going to Grillby’s. Would you like anything from there?”

“Just a burger and a bottle of ketchup,” Sans replied. Papyrus’ face scrunched up at his answer.

“You want a whole bottle of ketchup?” he gagged. “Brother, your eating habits scare me sometimes. But fine… I’ll do that.”

Papyrus left the house and walked all the way to Grillby’s. He thought a lot about Sans and how bad he felt for being the way he was. He knew that he was a very small help, especially since he didn’t know what was wrong with him. One thing he could do though was cheer him up.

But how could he do even that?

_“I could get him out of the house more,”_ Papyrus thought. _“He probably hasn’t seen the outside world in months! But what would get him outside?”_ Grillby’s? Nah… they started delivering now, so that wouldn’t last very long. He didn’t have many friends with the exception of Undyne, but she had recently became leader of the Royal Guard so she was always busy. She wouldn’t be able to help, even if she wanted to. What if… Sans had a job?

_“But what sort of job could Sans have?”_ Papyrus wondered. _“If he worked at Grillby’s, all he’d do is eat all the food. And all the other businesses around here are individually-owned. Nobody would take him.”_ Then something hit him like a brick wall. An idea he never had thought of.

Very recently, Undyne thought it would be best that the security in Snowdin, Snowdin Forest especially, improved. There were many reports of monsters robbing or attacking other monsters, and it had to come to a stop. Sure there were a couple guards in Snowdin Forest, but there weren’t enough to cover the entire forest. Because of that, Undyne enlisted Papyrus’ help to become a sentry in Snowdin Forest, as a way for him to use his training in action. Papyrus needed help too though. And Sans was perfect for that!

_“Then it’s settled! Sans will become a sentry with me, and we will start the next week! This is going to be so great, and Sans will be so much happier after this! I’ll make him happy. I’ll do this… for him.”_

Papyrus was very known for never breaking a promise, no matter how easily the promise could be broken. After he made the promise to make Sans happy again, he knew he’d stop at nothing to make him happy. No matter how hard it would be.


	8. The Brass Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." ~Mahatma Gandhi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a lighter chapter compared to some of the previously darker chapters... and it's also going to be the chapter where Magic Like No Other begins to tie in with Soul in Hand. Personally, I'm very excited for this. It's going to be Soul in Hand rewritten from a new perspective. We've seen Soul in Hand from the perspectives of Frisk, Chara, the children, etc. But have we seen Soul in Hand from Sans, Gaster, and Papyrus' perspectives? Heheheh... well, we shall see the story in their perspectives soon enough, starting with this chapter. Enjoy!!

It was a lazy Monday when Papyrus woke Sans up at the crack of dawn to begin his first day as a sentry. He was actually quite surprised when Sans was cooperative enough to get up and go to the forest with him. Especially after seeming so unenthusiastic about the news when Papyrus told him, he was shocked Sans even attempted to wake up. But hey, it made Papyrus happy, so there was no use in questioning it.

"So there are already two guards at the end of Snowdin Forest, by the town," Papyrus explained. He and Sans navigated their way through the tall, snow-frosted trees, trying to get to their posts. "Undyne wanted more guards out here in the forest, so of course I signed us both up to be sentries here! It's going to be so much fun!"

"Yeah, sure... whatever you say bro," Sans said with a long sigh.

"Your post is going to be around the very beginning of the forest," Papyrus instructed, pointing in the direction of where he'd be keeping watch. "My post is this area here! Now that I think of it... I wonder if us two will be enough..." He shook his head. "Nyeh, we cannot worry about that now! Let's just get through today, alright bro?"

"Sounds like a plan," Sans sighed, dragging his feet to go to his post.

"And no sleeping on the job, Sans!" Papyrus added. "I know it must be tempting for you, but I'll be sure to punish you if you do!"

"Could that be a _pun_ ishment?" Sans asked, feeling the smirk appearing on his face.

"NYEH!" Papyrus yelled. "SANS, NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR ANY OF YOUR STUPID PUNS!"

"But you're smiling," Sans chuckled. Papyrus growled and forced himself to frown. However, nothing could prevent him from smiling, especially after seeing his brother crack a joke for the first time in a while. It was a sign that he was beginning to feel better, and that made him feel like he was over the moon.

"I AM BUT I HATE IT!" he lied. "JUST... JUST GO! DO YOUR JOB!"  
"Whatever," Sans sighed. He shuffled away to his post, which was deep into the forest. He left Papyrus alone in the middle of the forest, and he dragged himself to the beginning of the forest. He found a snowy stand right next to a giant brass door, which he guessed was his post.

Sans sighed and leaned against the post. After a minute, he began tapping his foot impatiently. Another few minutes passed, and he was annoyed. He sighed and looked around. Nobody was there.

"This is stupid," he muttered. "Why am I doing this? Nobody's going to be here unless somebody goes through that brass door." He glared at the door for a moment, and a small smirk appeared on his face.

"That door is a br _asshole_." He snorted at his terrible pun, then began to belly laugh. He gripped onto his jacket as he tried not to fall onto the ground from laughing so hard. He wiped a tear that slipped out of his eye and sighed, finally controlling his laughter.

Man, he had forgotten what it was like to crack a joke.

He stared at the door for a couple moments longer. A large temptation began to wash over him as hundreds of knock-knock jokes came to his head. But what if someone lived on the other side of the door? Or it could totally just be a door to an abandoned house. But if someone _did_ live there, he didn't want to bother them.

Fuck it.

Sans stood up straight from leaning against the post and walked right in front of the door. He balled his hand up into a fist and lightly knocked on the brass door.

"Knock-knock," he whispered to himself. Already smiling, he then said, "Who's there? Snow. Snow who? Snow use, I forgot my name again!" He chuckled, already feeling a little better about being stuck out in the forest for the whole day. He finally found a way to kill some time.

Sans lost track of time after beginning his knock-knock jokes. But all that mattered to him was that he was smiling... like, _**genuinely**_ smiling. He hadn't felt a smile on his face in a while, and it was a great feeling that he missed largely. Eventually, he had to take a small break after making his face and sides hurt too much from laughing so hard. He started shortly after, and found himself knocking on the brass door all over again.

"Knock-knock," Sans whispered. "Who's there? Ya. Ya who? I'm excited to see you too!" He then sighed and looked at the ground.

_"Eh, it's funnier when there's someone to say it to,"_ he thought. _"Oh well. This is the best I've got."_ He knocked on the door again and muttered, "Knock-knock."

"Who's there?"

The voice on the other side of the door made Sans' heart jump out of his chest. He was _**not**_ expecting someone to actually reply to him! Despite the shock, his intuition told him to respond right away.

"Dishes."

"Dishes who?"

"Dishes a very bad joke."

The voice on the other side of the door howled with laughter. She laughed and laughed and laughed, with no sign of when she'd stop. It made Sans' heart flutter even more when he heard a child-like giggle faintly as well. He knew he had to continue telling them jokes; the sound of their laughter was like music to his ears. So he knocked on the door again.

"Knock-knock."

"Who's there?" the voice asked again.

"A broken pencil."

"A broken pencil who?"

"...Never mind, it's pointless."

The voice laughed again, and it made Sans' heart lift with happiness again. The soft, child-like giggle was louder this time, showing more innocence and adorableness in her laugh this time. Sans found himself lightly chuckling when hearing their laughter.

Telling jokes in general was one form of happiness. But telling them to others and hearing their laughter was a whole other ballgame. And he loved it with all his heart.

"Knock-knock." Sans jumped a little at the voice saying that unexpectedly. So... she was a jokester too? Sans chuckled and thought, _"Bring it on."_

"Who's there?"

"Little old lady."

"Little old lady who?"

"I didn't know you could yodel."

And it hit him. That fit of chuckles that made him laugh hysterically. He leaned on the door for support, holding his stomach and throwing his head back. It was one thing to tell jokes, and it was another thing to hear others laugh because of his jokes. It was a _whole other thing_ to have others share jokes back.

And after regaining himself, he decided to throw in one more joke. One that he knew would knock it out of the park.

"Knock-knock." He started giggling again, but forced himself to stop.

"Who's there?"

"Al."

"Al who?"

"Al give you a kiss if you open this door."

....No response.

Sans waited and waited for one of the two people on the other side of the door to respond to the joke. Then he heard, "I don't get it. What's the joke?" Oh... there was a literal child who heard that joke. He practically told that very... adult-like joke to a child.

_"Dammit, I had one job,"_ Sans thought.

"Um... my child... please go upstairs now," the first voice answered calmly. "It's best that I explain the joke later." Sans sighed patiently and waited to hear the faint steps of a small child walking upstairs. He then sighed and began his apology.

"Um... sorry... I didn't mean it in that-"

"I know," the voice interrupted. "It's ok. It was just a joke. A very bad joke for that matter." He chuckled along with the voice, knowing that was the unfortunately harsh truth.

Sans then realized what time of day it was. It was just about to get dark, and he felt like it was time to start heading home. He said, "Oh, well uh... I gotta go." He then felt a twang of sadness when thinking about leaving the person on the other side of the door. He had to make a promise to her of some sort.

"Do you mind if I... come back tomorrow? Practice more of my jokes on you?"

"Go right ahead," the voice answered. "Practice anytime you want. I'll always be your audience." Hearing that finally made Sans feel complete for the first time in a while. It was a glimmer of hope in a cloud of darkness; somebody promised genuine support for him without even realizing it.

"Great... see you tomorrow, then," Sans chuckled. He then shuffled away from the brass door, looking back a couple times at it before it was out of his sight. Then he stopped, looked up at the sky, and whispered, "Wow..."

His life changed at the most unexpected moment. At that moment, he experienced true happiness again. Genuine, sincere happiness. His smile never felt plastered onto his face, and his happiness didn't feel fake. It was all real.

Sans was so grateful. If Papyrus hadn't ever asked him to be a sentry, that wouldn't have happened. He'd still be in his bed, suffering in constant waves of hopelessness. Now, he really believed that everything would be ok... eventually. Things were slowly getting better.

He had to go home and hug his brother tightly that night.


	9. Golden Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." ~William Shakespeare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again... time for some more Soul in Hand and Magic Like No Other mixing! This is going to be a longer chapter, which means this took a while to write... sorry haha. I have the rest of this book planned out in a template, and I think around chapter 11 it'll finally be easier write chapters for this book. That'll be when the chapters are more action-packed and less filler. Get ready, it's going to be huge!  
> Also, Happy Election Day. *unenthusiastic horn plays* I hate politics, just saying. However, it does spark some ideas for my third book of this series. But... that's a story for a while later when that book comes around heheheh.

Things were shaping up to be... pretty odd. Not in a bad way though. In fact, things were getting a lot better. But... things were definitely changing.

Sans' experiments proceeded as usual, despite setbacks with his new job and other projects getting in Gaster's way. Fortunately, Gaster was able to create a medication to help minimize the pain of Sans' side effects. They didn't completely go away, but he was finally capable of getting out of bed in the morning. Papyrus stopped worrying about Sans as much, and he was much happier. He was slowly going back to being himself, even if the side effects weren't completely gone.

Despite the past problems disappearing, new ones were beginning to surface. And they were not going to be fun to deal with.

"You listen to me, punks!" a voice screamed from inside Sans and Papyrus' house. "Asgore wants more sentries in Snowdin Forest. So you need to go and get more sentries! At least one!"

"You're the Royal Guard captain, aren't you supposed to be the one in charge of all that?" Sans asked, waving his hand at her. The female monster, Undyne, growled.

"I do agree with Sans on this one, Undyne, how are we supposed to know any sentries?!" Papyrus cried, trying to be kinder about the situation than Sans was.

"First off, I am not yet a captain," Undyne snarled. "I'm still in my training, but when I'm done with it I'll become the captain." She darted a look at the two skeletons. "But I'm busy with training and meetings with Asgore. So you two need to go and get a sentry for me!"

"That's not fai-" Sans began.

"It is indeed fair, my son," a voice interrupted from the top of the stairs. Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne looked over to see Gaster walking down the stairs. "You two committed to a job, and you must stick with it. No matter what the consequences are, it's what you must do to be good workers."

"YEAH, WHAT HE SAID PUNKS!" Undyne yelled. She then stopped and cleared her throat. "I mean... your father is right. Now, I want you to have another sentry working in Snowdin Forest by the time I am back. Until then, you two are on your own."

"Fine," Sans muttered, as Papyrus followed with a, "Yes, ma'am!"

"Are you ready to go now, Undyne?" Gaster asked. Undyne nodded. "We should be back from our meetings with Asgore by the end of the day." Gaster and Undyne left the small cottage in the middle of Snowdin, leaving Sans and Papyrus home alone to figure out this situation for themselves.

"Heh... so what do you think we should do?" Sans asked, sitting on the couch and kicking his feet up.

"Well, I think we should start with actually searching for sentries around Snowdin!" Papyrus exclaimed. Sans rolled his eyes and yawned.

"Sounds boring, you can go do that," Sans said. Papyrus growled.

"NO, YOU WILL GO AND DO THAT, THAT IS FINAL!" Papyrus yelled. "I SEARCH HERE, YOU SEARCH IN THE FOREST! DO YOU HEAR?!"

"Jeez, no need to be so hostile," Sans sighed. "But fine. I'll go." He and Papyrus left the house and went separate ways to begin their search.

For the entire day, Sans and Papyrus searched around their designated area to search for anyone fit to be a sentry. But nobody fit the role. Everyone who they approached either was uninterested, too weak, or too cowardly to try. They were stumped.

Sans sat on a tree stump, contemplating his final options before Undyne came back looking for the new sentry. He could just tell her the truth… nah, she wouldn’t take it well. He could lie to her about having a sentry… but then it’d be an even bigger fuss to get a sentry in time. Plus, Papyrus couldn’t keep a lie in for a solid five minutes.

“Dang it, what can I do?” Sans muttered. He tapped his foot against the ground until a light bulb popped into his head.

“The door,” he whispered. He stood up and shuffled his way to the large brass door at the entry of the forest. Since his first day on the job, he had been sharing knock-knock jokes with the kind lady and her child on the other side of the door. They created such a tight bond, in his opinion at least, that he could trust her to help him out with this situation. Heck, she may know someone in the Ruins who fit the role well.

He approached the door, hearing a frustrating conversation between the lady and a… new voice? It was a male voice, a deeper teenage voice. That was odd… what could they be fighting about? Despite his curiosity, he interrupted the conversation on the other side of the door with a, _“Knock, knock.”_

“Heya.”

There was a slightly long silence after he spoke out. He was guessing the two people were shocked at how unexpected his timing was, especially since he caught them in the middle of what seemed to be a conflict.

“Oh… hey,” the higher-pitched voice greeted. It was the same one he always talked to, so he knew her. However, he was yet to know the identity of the lower voice.

“Listen… I don’t have any jokes for you today,” Sans said. “But I have a favor… just some sort of advice. My brother, Papyrus, and I need someone to help us out with keeping Snowdin Forest safe. I know you live with a couple other people, and I don’t know if they’re monsters or humans or whatever… but we need help. Do you know anyone?”

“Why… yes, I do.” Sans smiled suddenly, feeling relieved that the search for a sentry was finally over.

“You do?! Sweet! Who is it?”

“Erigo.”

 _“Erigo… never heard of that name,”_ Sans thought. _“Doesn’t seem like a monster name… but it also doesn’t sound like a human name. Maybe he’s some sort of hybrid? Oh, wait, that’s not possible. Humans and monsters have been separated from each other for however long-”_

Sans’ thoughts were interrupted with him hearing the lower voice say, “You don’t think Sans or this other monster he’s talking about will tell anyone dangerous about myself or Libertas?” After hearing this “Erigo” person say that, he got vibes from him that he was indeed a human. He also got the idea that “Libertas”, who he guessed was the other child, was also a human.

“Heh, you can trust me,” Sans stated, feeling a need to jump into the conversation. “Papyrus will freak out when he sees you or Libertas, but he won’t say anything about it. And if he tries, I’ll stop him. I’ve got your guys’ backs.”

“I really appreciate this!” the first voice exclaimed. “Thank you so much!” Sans felt his face burn with gratitude.

“Anytime,” he said.

“So… uh… when do I start actually working?” Erigo asked.

“Well… uh, I suppose-” Sans began.

“SANS!” Papyrus cried behind him. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING LAZYBONES?! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE FINDING SOMEONE TO HELP US WITH PROTECTING SNOWDIN FOREST!”

It took Papyrus a while to calm down after the brass door opened, revealing the tall, burly teenager named Erigo. Sans also found himself face-to-face with the once-queen of the Underground, Toriel. He had never thought he’d be sharing puns with her one day, but he had been. However, he and Papyrus had a job to do, and that was starting Erigo off the next day with training.

* * *

 

“Hey kid, you ready to start your training?” Sans greeted as Erigo walked out of the brass door.

“You know I am!” Erigo exclaimed. “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this my whole life! All my boxing lessons and martial arts classes with my grandfather are really going to pay off now!”

“Whoa, whoa, get a hold of yourself,” Sans halted. He stopped walking and turned around, facing Erigo. “Being a sentry is more than punching people in the face or kicking people in the shin. It’s a responsibility; your job is to keep tranquility and peace in the forest. Sometimes, that involves violence. But other times, it won’t have to. You’ll have to learn when violence is necessary or unnecessary. You understand?” Erigo sighed, attempting to be patient.

“Yes,” he answered. Sans sighed in relief, the training going better than expected. He was already quite shocked at how well he was handling the long, mature speeches already. In no time, he’d be _speech_ less.

 _“Wow, that was a bad pun,”_ Sans thought.

“Moving on…” Sans continued. “Your station will be in this particular area.” He gestured to his post, which Papyrus recently built. “If you think you hear someone’s in trouble, you go and help him. But besides that, you always stay at your post. And if you ever need the assistance of Papyrus or me, you just give us a shout, got it?” Erigo nodded enthusiastically.

“Now… as soon as there’s a crisis, you’ll be the one to handle it,” Sans decided. “That’ll be your first act of training.” Immediately after those words came out of Sans’ mouth, a cry of despair rang through the forest. “Welp. That was fast.”

Erigo and Sans bolted into the direction of the cry, going deeper and deeper into the forest. After escaping out of a sea of trees, they found where the cries were coming from.

“Leave me alone!” the frail Woshua cried, hiding from the Ice Cap hovering over him.

“What’s wrong?” the Ice Cap snarled. “Are you too scared to face me and my superiority? Ha, you’re nothing but a weakling.”

“Please stop…” the Woshua begged.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Erigo questioned, forcing himself between the Woshua and Ice Cap.

“Nothing to see here, just a simple Woshua too scared to fight,” the Ice Cap answered in a snarky tone.

“Alright, well it looks a little more like nothing to me,” Erigo growled. “Leave the poor guy alone. He doesn’t want to fight.”

“All you stupid cops are the same,” the Ice Cap mumbled. “So strict, so mindless, so depriving of fun. I’ve got an idea for you, big-head. Why don’t you fight me instead?” Erigo growled. Why couldn’t the monster just leave the situation?

“Alright… you asked for it,” Erigo growled. He put his fists up, ready to swing a punch at any second. Before he could ready himself, he looked at Sans for a second, who looked unsatisfied of Erigo’s choice of violence already. He suddenly stepped back, now wanting to back out. When he was least expecting it, though, the Ice Cap head-butted Erigo, sending him flying to the ground.

Feeling the scrapes along his arms and legs, he groaned and picked himself back onto his feet. He then swung a punch, hitting the Ice Cap directly in the face. He flung back a little, marks from Erigo’s knuckles beginning to appear. Erigo chuckled, amused.

“So… what do you say?” Erigo questioned. “Leave us alone now? I’ve sorta taught you a lesson.” The Ice Cap looked up at Erigo, then stood up.

“I haven’t though,” the Ice Cap growled. He swung his head again, going in for another head butt. Erigo winced, ready for the pain, but never got it. He opened his eyes slowly, gasping at what he saw next.

The Ice Cap, surrounded in a glowing blue layer of magic, was frozen in his position. Inches away from Erigo, he was in the position for another headbutt, but the magic stopped him before he could hit him. Erigo looked over to see Sans was the reason he was stopped in his tracks. His hand was glowing with the same layer of blue magic, his arm extended out in the direction of the Ice Cap. A dissatisfied, angry look was on his face.

“Hey _buddy_ ,” Sans growled. “Why don’t you leave us alone now?” Sans tossed the Ice Cap aside to the ground, releasing him from the magical barrier. It was a new experience; Sans was aware that the boss magic he was given from the experiments gave him new powers for situations like these, but he had never tested it out on a monster before.

He had an interesting story to share with his father later.

“Fine… you jerks!” the Ice Cap spat. He scurried away, leaving the forest. The Woshua, who looked relieved to see the Ice Cap leave, thanked Erigo and Sans for their help. He then left as well, heading back to his home in Waterfall.

“So… that didn’t go as planned,” Sans muttered. “Sorry.... I didn’t expect him to be such an aggressive guy. One thing I should note on how you handled that, though, is your choice of violence. I don’t think it was necessary, but it’s ok. We can work on that, alright?” He glanced at Erigo, who looked to be fuming with anger. “Erigo, you ok?”

“No, I’m not,” he snapped. “I couldn’t help that poor monster by myself. I needed your help, and I was so weak in that fight. Am I… am I _**really**_ that puny?” He screamed in self-hatred of his disadvantages and kicked the snow sprinkled on the ground. “Why?! Why can’t I do _anything_ right?! Why can’t I please just one person or help one person out correctly? It’s not fair… I want to have a place in this world. I want to help…”

Tears seeped into the snow on the ground as Erigo allowed the tears to fall out of his eyes. He was never a cryer… only when something really was able to crack him. And it might’ve been a small situation, but it was a problem he carried on his shoulders for a long time. He wanted to do good for the world, and he felt helpless in the human world. When he accidentally came into the monster world, he had hope that he could help the monsters out then. Now… now he just felt helpless all over again.

“Hey, kid… don’t beat yourself up over this,” Sans sighed. He could feel Erigo’s pain. It took Sans lots of time to find his place in the world, but with the help of Gaster he could feel himself becoming more and more useful because of the experiments and helping free the monsters. He wanted Erigo to find his place in the world too.

“Look, you’re going to have to work hard. And it won’t be easy. But you have so much potential to help stop evil from taking over this world, whether human or monster. You have a strong, protective side to you. I can see it. And with that compassion of yours, you can help save so many people. You’re a brave kid, Erigo, and I know you can change the world. You just need to start small with this job, and Papyrus and I will help train you. You got this kid… alright?”

Erigo rubbed a tear stuck onto his face. He could feel the sadness evaporating out of his body, and encouragement replaced it. The words Sans just said to him echoed through his brain over and over. Constant reassurance that he had a special place in the world. Reassurance that he can do what he puts his mind to.

Reassurance that he was a good person.

“Thank you Sans,” he whispered. “I… I can do it. And I will. With the help of you and Papyrus, I will change the world. Thank you.”

Sans felt immediate emotional attachment to Erigo. He felt so excited for the future, when Erigo would become older and more mature than he already was. When he would make a huge impact to the world. When he would become a strong, independent character. When he would inspire others, including himself, the way he just inspired him.

“Of course, kid.”


	10. We're On Your Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." ~Vince Lombardi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok... I have a lot of explaining to do.
> 
> Writing was going fine, besides the fact that I didn't know what to do with chapter 10. I was going to have it be about what happened when Undyne and Erigo met, and how she reacted to him being a human. But it was hard, I didn't know what to do. So I decided to scrap that chapter, save it for book 3, and get on to the next chapter since it's a good plot chapter.  
> And then my computer breaks. And when I say break, I don't mean "oh shoot just do a couple updates and it'll be fine." I mean "it got a virus and the whole database corrupted." And my stepbrother knows how to fix it, but he also hates social interaction so he never comes out of his room to help me. Whatever, I'll just use the family computer, right? Yes, but school and finals are bitches. I just got onto winter break, and I'll write a lot more and catch up. Between no homework and getting a root canal so all I'd be able to do is lay in bed, I'll get lots of time. I AM SO SORRY FOR HOW LONG THIS TOOK, I'M LITERALLY WALLOWING IN A PUDDLE OF SELF PITY FOR THIS. BUT I'M OUT OF MY "WRITER'S BLOCK" SO UPDATES WILL BE FASTER I PROMISE.  
> I hope you understand, and please enjoy this chapter.

“Right this way,” Sans said, opening the steel doors. Darkness pooled out of the building, making Erigo eye it with suspicion.

“Don’t you think this is kind of sketchy?” Erigo questioned.

“No, but you’ll make us look sketchy if you’re seen by a Royal Guard member,” Sans answered. “Just get in.” He lightly shoved Erigo into the dark room, slamming the door shut.

“Where are we?” Erigo questioned. He squinted in the dark, making any attempt to see anything.

“My father’s lab,” Sans answered. He flicked on a light switch close by. When the lights turned on, everything appeared. The scattered papers across multiple desks, some with special coding on them. Blueprints stacked on top of each other, making colossal towers of blue paper. Gadgets and tools were scattered around the floor, on tables, and in unreachable places.

“Um… nice lab?” Erigo complimented, a hint of question at the mess.

“He’s a lot more organized than you’d think,” Sans said, staring at the place that resembled a shredded town after a hurricane. “This is just his, uh, style of organization.” Erigo paused, still confused.

“Right,” Erigo said.

“Hello?” a voice called from an entryway leading to the basement of the lab. A large figure appeared from the door, revealing himself. “Oh, hello Sans! Who is this friend of yours?” Gaster flashed a fatherly smile as he placed more papers onto his disaster of papers on his primary desk.

“Dad, this is Erigo, the new sentry Papyrus and I work with,” Sans introduced. Erigo walked up to Gaster and politely shook his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Erigo said as he flashed a brave smile as well. Gaster, impressed by the boy’s manners, shook his hand back.

“Nice to meet you too,” Gaster said. “So, Erigo…” He proceeded to search through cabinets for certain tools needed for a project. “Are you a human, if you don’t mind me asking? You just greatly resemble one, especially one that I fought on the surface. He was a tough guy, let me tell you. He killed many of our men in that battle, and I had to step in and help out. It was the first time I used my Gasterblasters since-” Gaster stopped himself, beginning to feel himself slip from reality and fall into another flashback from the war. Before he could go any further, he blinked and snapped out of his mind.

“My apologies. It’s a rough subject.”

“I understand,” Erigo sighed. “It must’ve been rough to experience. We talk about it all the time in history class-”

“Wait, you humans _learn_ about the history of the war in your education system?!"

"Yeah, we start in middle school, in seventh grade,” Erigo answered. “And I’m currently in eighth grade. So I don’t know as much as other kids, but they inform us pretty well with textbooks.”

"Textbooks?!” Gaster gasped. “What do the humans say about us up there?!”

“They say you were the cause of the war,” Erigo sighed. “That fear and paranoia caused you to attack us. That-”

"Yes, I know that, but that was because the _humans_ threatened _us_!” Gaster yelled. “How dare they say such outrageous things about our kind! We were fighting to protect ourselves! Did we exactly want to go to war?! No, but the humans gave us no choice!”

“Not all the humans wanted to fight,” Erigo whispered.

“Dad, we should steer away from this topic,” Sans muttered, grabbing Gaster by his wrists to prevent him from spiraling down in anger any farther than he had already gone. Gaster looked over at the boy, who was obviously hurt and ashamed.

“There are humans like myself and Libertas who didn’t want the war to happen,” Erigo growled. “Am I ashamed of what our ancestors did? For sure. But can I change it? No. But just know that Libertas and I are on your side. We promise we are, ok? But we’re scared you’re not, because we think someone will find us and kill us to break the barrier."

“Well, not all monsters are how they seem to be in the textbooks either,” Gaster said. Erigo looked up and stared at him, wondering what his point was. “Come downstairs. There’s something I want to show you.” Realizing what he was talking about, Sans nodded in agreement and led Erigo down to the basement.

It was spookier than the actual lab; cobwebs stuck to the walls and ceiling, sometimes hanging down low enough for Erigo to get tangled in them. There were hardly any lights, and occasional creaks in the floor made sounds similar to lost souls screaming in the darkness.

"Ignore the creaks in the floor,” Gaster mumbled. “Those are old wooden boards that I haven’t gotten around to fixing.”

“Uh huh,” Erigo muttered, staring at the multiple boards sticking up from the floor. “I hope someone remodeles it someday.”

“Eh, maybe I’ll get Papyrus to if something were to happen to me and I couldn’t do it myself,” Gaster noted to himself. “Anyways, right this way!” The monsters and the child entered a new room. The lights in there were a little brighter, mostly shining on a single bed with a odd-looking machine next to it. Tubes resembling IV’s were lying on the bed, attached to the machine.

“What is this place?” Erigo asked, observing the bed and machine.

“This is the experiment Sans and I have been doing lately,” Gaster answered.

"W-What kind of experiment?”

“One to get us out of the Underground,” Gaster answered. He looked over at Sans, who nodded in agreement.

"How is that possible without seven human souls though?” Erigo wondered out loud, remembering the classic fairy-tale that was often told to him before he went to bed when he was younger.

“By adding monster magic to a monster soul that exceeds the power of a human soul,” Gaster explained. “Sans and I discovered that by adding boss monster magic to Sans’ soul, it can surpass the limits of the average monster soul. We’re one experiment away from testing to see if his soul itself can go through the barrier separating the humans and monsters. And if it works, we can either make peace with the monsters or steal seven already-dead souls to break us free.”

“Wow… imagine that, humans _and_ monsters will be free to roam the Earth again,” Erigo whispered. “When’s the final experiment?”

“Erm, the problem is we’re not sure,” Gaster admitted. “Sans has gone through a lot of internal and external pain from the experiments. Plus this last experiment will be the most intense for his body to comprehend. We need to give him a lot of time for recovery, so we’re playing it by ear. It could be weeks, months, or even years before we can go through with the last experiment.”

“Oh, I see,” Erigo said, staring at the ground. The air was still for a moment.

“But the point of taking you down here was to show you what we’re doing,” Gaster blurted. “Nobody else knows of our plans yet. But we’re trying to find the safest way to break the monsters free, without any humans or monsters getting harmed. Sans and I want you both to know that we’re on your side. Just like you said earlier; not everyone wanted to be in the war. Well, neither did we. And we’re going to prove that by getting us out of here in the safest way possible.”

“Do you trust us, kid?” Sans asked, seeing the mixture of emotions based on Erigo’s facial expressions. “I know not all of us are great. But we can fix it, ok? It’ll be ok. You, Libertas, and any other humans who have fallen hang in there.”

“I,” Erigo began, “I trust you. Sans, you’ve already done so much for me. How can I not trust you?”

“Thank you Erigo,” Gaster thanked. “Your support means the world to us both.” Erigo shared a smile with Sans and Gaster that lit the room, despite the dim bulbs.

“We should be heading out before anyone could see us,” Sans said. “We’ll catch you sometime when we can.”

“You two be safe!” Gaster called as Erigo and Sans left the room, leaving him alone once again. Just him and his work.

* * *

 

Whistling a tune that he remembered listening to a lot on the radio, Erigo sat by his post and waited for anything to occur. It was slow at work that day, and both Sans and Papyrus had to agree with that. On the other side of the forest, they reported of nothing happening around their area either. So he wasn’t expecting anything to happen, helping him relax more than usual.

“Here, I am… rock you like a hurricane,” Erigo sang quietly. “Dun, dun, dun. Here I am… rock you like a hurri-cayyynee!” He then stopped and looked around. “Thank goodness nobody was around to hear that mess.”

After he said that statement, a rustling sound could be heard in the trees beyond his post. He froze, afraid that someone dangerous heard him. Then his fear evaporated and his bravery replaced it.

“Hello?” he called out. “If someone’s out there, show yourself!”

"Who’s that?” a deep, dark voice called. Erigo paused, not expecting the person to actually respond to him.

“E...Erigo, I’m a sentry here,” Erigo called out.

“What’s a _human_ doing out here running a post?” the monster snarled as he appeared from the trees. Erigo gulped at the sight of him as he towered over him. Narrow eyes, steel spear, heavy gear. Wait a second, Erigo knew he saw that from somewhere. Ideas clicked in his mind, and he gasped.

A Royal Guard member.

“Uh, heh, this may seem bad, but it’s not what you think,” Erigo chuckled.

“Oh, I know exactly what it is,” the Royal Guard member growled, drawing his spear. “Hey, I found one!” A second Royal Guard member appeared from the forest as well, just as strong-looking, large, and angry as the first one.

Erigo felt his gut instinct kick in as he bolted into the forest. From his post, he could hear the two guard members scream and run in his direction. He could hear their metal boots clanking against the puffy snow, the metal sound getting closer and closer.

“Shit,” Erigo muttered.

_(Start music suggestion here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9__6m6iOodw)_

“Get back here you puny human!” one of the soldiers cried. Erigo inhaled and exhaled sharply as he continued running, his shoes crunching snow and twigs on the ground. Finding unfamiliar trees, he found himself lost. He stopped and looked around at the maze of trees, all similar with glistening snow and barely any leaves on them. He panted heavily, trying to map his way to Sans or Papyrus.

But with no idea of where he was in the first place, he was lost.

“I found him again!” a voice yelled. Erigo gasped and began to run again, choosing a random path and swerving around trees. He jumped over larger branches on the ground, feeling his legs getting weaker with every jump. His legs were jelly ready to collapse to the ground, and the only thing keeping him going was the fact that the cells in his body weren’t dead yet.

“Where… are they…” Erigo breathed, not being able to breathe as easily as before. Sure he had been athletic his whole life, but running was always a bitch to him.

Now was not the time for him to be slacking though.

Not being able to hear clanking metal, he stopped for a second and leaned against a tree to catch his breath. He inhaled and exhaled through his nose, making as little noise as possible. Even if his lungs were burning with desperation for more oxygen, he couldn’t afford for his heavy breathing to reveal where he was. His heart rate slowed a little bit, due to more oxygen and less anxiety.

“I need to find where the others are,” Erigo whispered. “They can help. I can’t fight them alone.” The trees around him blurred. His face was dizzy with worry, and his limbs slowly went numb. Everything slowed down around him as he felt the air tense up.

Then a spear slashed his left arm, cutting deep through his skin. Erigo screamed out and covered the wound with his free arm, hoping that’d help the pain or flowing of fresh blood. Cool air drifted into his arm injury as he ran further into the forest. It stung worse than a bee, making him mutter curse after curse.

It was nothing but trees for what looked to be miles. And still no sign of Sans or Papyrus. He sputtered as he turned to look for the Royal Guard members.

_Smack!_

Gravity took over as Erigo collided into a tree, flinging back a few inches and slamming onto the ground. He groaned, feeling the pressure on the side and back of his head where he was impacted most. Too dizzy to stand, he watched the hundreds of trees swirl around him. He groaned and tried to sit up, which made his head spin more.

“Great timing,” he muttered. The distant sound of the soldiers’ armor could be heard, but the ringing in his ears prevented him from realizing just how close they really were. The first guard tackled Erigo back onto the ground, causing them both to spiral across the ground a little more.

“I’ve got you now, punk,” he growled, on top of Erigo. “And I’m not going to let you go.” Erigo growled and spat at the soldier, causing him to gasp in disgust and horror.

“How dare he!” the soldier yelled, feeling the spit on his face.

“How dare you!” the second soldier yelled. He lashed a punch onto Erigo’s face, hitting him directly in his right eye. He flinched, not being able to do anything since he was tied down.

“Just leave me alone!” he cried. “I didn’t do anything! I’m even _working_ for you guys!”

“Yeah, but we never said it was right,” the second soldier snarled. “No humans work for us.” He brought his spear out, aiming a couple more hits on Erigo. He winced at each time the spear met his skin, crying out.

“This’ll show you disgusting humans to not mess with us monsters,” the first soldier chuckled. “We’ll report you directly to King Asgore so that he can come here and murder you himself. How does that sound, little buddy?”

“That sounds like a whole lot of bullshit to me.”

Both soldiers turned around, not recognizing the voice. Erigo gasped, a miracle arriving.

“Hey buddy. Maybe you should let go of the kid for me.” Sans stepped closer to the soldiers, his hand glowing with magic. “Or am I going to have to do it myself?”

“What’s a puny skeleton like you going to do about it?” the first soldier snickered. He laughed and hollered with contempt until he found himself suspended in the air, glowing with blue magic.

“Wha-What are you doing?!” he yelled. Sans picked his arm up and threw him towards a tree. The soldier flew into it, his body making contact with the bark and sliding down to the ground.

“That,” he growled. “Now, I don’t think you want that to happen to you, don’tcha?” The second soldier shook his head, immediately stepping away from Erigo.

“Erigo!” Papyrus yelled, rushing to the human to help him up. “Are you ok?!”

“I’ll be fine,” he muttered. He felt his eye, which felt very sore and tender. He knew that’d turn into a black eye if it hadn’t already. He inspected other slashes and bruises on his body as Papyrus guided him away from the soldiers.

“Why are you monsters _helping_ him?!” the first monster spat, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. “He’s a _human_!”

“He’s helping us ‘cause he’s on our side,” Sans snapped.

“Well let’s see what King Asgore has to say about that.”

“King Asgore won’t hear anything about this,” Sans boomed. “Because Papyrus and I here are both sons of Royal Scientist W.D Gaster, who happens to work _alongside_ King Asgore. So if you tell him anything, I’ll simply tell my father that anything you say is bullshit.” Both monster soldiers gulped in fear when hearing Gaster’s name.

“Dude, they’re associated with _them_?!” the second soldier whispered. “It’s not worth it man. Just let them find out about the human for themselves.”

“Sure, whatever,” the first soldier stammered. “You won’t be hearing about us, you gotcha? Not a single peep.”

“Good,” Sans said, his tone still dark.

“Now get out of here!” Papyrus cried. “Nyeh, and don’t ever come back!” The second soldier helped the first one up, and they slowly walked away from the situation. Neither one of that did so without glaring evilly at Erigo first though.

“Kid, are you alright?” Sans asked. “You look pretty beat up.”

“I’m alright, it could’ve gone worse,” Erigo sighed. His body felt weak and his injuries were pretty rough, but he didn’t want to make either one of them feel bad about what happened.

“We need to keep Erigo closer to us!” Papyrus exclaimed. “We cannot leave him in the forest alone again!”

“I agree with that notion,” Sans sighed. “Sorry kid. We were pretty naive to think that didn’t happen.”

“Yes, good going Sans,” Papyrus blamed. Not feeling like fighting with anyone today, Sans shook the blame off.

“I’ll take you home kid,” Sans said. “It’s getting dark out anyway. How does that sound?”

“I’d appreciate that,” Erigo sighed, feeling how heavy his eyelids were and how much his injuries pained him. All he wanted at the moment was his bed and probably something to help him feel at least a little better.

“Goodbye human, feel better!” Papyrus called. Sans and Erigo exited out of Snowdin Forest and began onto the path to Toriel’s house in the Ruins.

“Ok, here we are,” Sans announced, leading Erigo nearly to the door to Toriel’s house. “You gonna be ok kid?”

“Of course, I’ll be bouncing back by tomorrow!” Erigo exclaimed, showing a weak, yet brave and encouraging, smile.

“That’s more like it,” Sans chuckled. “See you later.” He left Erigo in the darkness, with the fireflies and faraway stars to light his path home. He sighed angrily, kicking a pebble across the ground.

“Monsters on our side?” Erigo grumbled. “Sure, we’ll see.” He sighed, disheartened, as he opened the door to the basement and finally arrived home.


	11. The Core

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds." ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The death of Gaster's death, just like in Soul in Hand, but maybe with a little more detail. And a lot more heartbreak. Wahahah. Enjoy. :)

Dark. Darker. Even darker.

Falling. Screaming.

Can’t escape.

Won’t escape.

Today wasn’t supposed to end up like this.

It was supposed to be fun. Father and son time.

Now one of them is gone forever.

Forever. Eternity.

* * *

 

Months passed, and there was still no sign of when the final experiment would happen. Neither Sans nor Gaster had any idea how long to wait. They were better safe than sorry though, and they felt waiting for a very long time was necessary.

But after months of waiting around, they finally placed a date.

A week beforehand, Sans’ daily schedule was altered. The time of his final experiment was nearing closer, and who knows what would happen to him after that? His father wanted to make it up for him.

“Sans, get up,” Gaster mumbled, shaking his son awake. He watched him stir in his bed for a moment before mumbling. “Get up and start getting ready. I’m going to take you somewhere today.”

“Wh-Where?” Sans asked, his voice muffled by his blankets. Gaster crossed his arms and smiled.

“I want to show you something special, something I’ve recently been working on.”

One teleportation later, Sans and Gaster arrived at the entrance of a large, ominous machine surrounded in flaming lava. Sans gasped and looked around the entrance, with the strange black design hanging over the door and the beams at each corner of the blue-painted room. There were also interesting markings on the ground, making Sans even more confused.

“Where are we?” he questioned.

Gaster pushed a few buttons on a pad next to the door. Then he scanned his hand, causing the doors to open. He turned around and looked at Sans.

“My latest project; the Core.” Gaster gestures for Sans to enter, following behind him.

“Whoa,” Sans whispered. “You _built_ this?” Gaster chuckled, entering another room with him.

“Indeed I did,” Gaster said. “This is where all the energy for the Underground comes from. Light sources come from here. Energy used for cooking comes from here. Running water? Comes from here too. The Underground would be a goner if this didn’t exist.”

“So the Core has always been here?” Sans questioned.

“Yes, technically, but I’ve been doing advanced work on it lately, hoping to make the energy more powerful and stronger. It hasn’t worked so far, but I’m not giving up.” He smiled a little as he admired the work he’d done so far. He remembered how small and minimal the Core was when he first built it, and he was proud of the progress.

“I can’t believe you built all of this,” Sans whispered, running his fingers along the walls.

“Sometimes I can’t believe it either,” Gaster whispered. He observed every crack in the walls, places that he had to fix. “I still remember when the Core was first mentioned. We were losing the war and had a fear that something terrible would happen to us. King Asgore asked for me to have a backup plan of an energy source, in case we were trapped somewhere and would have to survive off of nothing. We were lucky I was able to come up with a plan in time.” He shuddered at the “what if’s” that ran through his head.

“That’s enough of that,” Gaster chuckled. “Let me show you one of the more unfinished parts of the Core.”

There was a long silence as Gaster led Sans through the narrow labyrinth that was the Core. The everlasting silence bounced off the walls, staying trapped within the rooms. It made the place more and more eerie as seconds ticked by. Sans could feel his gut instinct getting stronger.

Something was wrong. If not that, something was _going to_ go wrong.

“Here we are,” Gaster said, breaking the nervous tension. Sans looked up, separating from his cloud of paranoia, and gaped his mouth open at the sight.

A lone bridge, an unstable bridge, attached the two platforms. The space between them looked large enough to swallow anything and anyone it wanted to. Sans gulped at the bottomless fall that’d await if they attempted to go across the bridge.

“Come on, Sans,” Gaster interrupted, stepping onto the bridge. Sans gasped. “What? I’ve done this many times before.”

“That doesn’t look safe,” Sans warned. Typically, he’d search his mind for a bridge pun, or maybe even a bottomless pit pun. This time, though, his mind was too blocked with worry for him to be creative enough for a pun.

“Sans, why are you so worried?” Gaster questioned. He began to walk back towards him. “I know what I’m doing! Seriously, I'm fi-”

He stopped there. As his feet tangled amongst each other and he lost his balance, he could feel his life slip from underneath him. He stumbled forward, managing to grasp onto the platform with his left hand. He looked down, gulping at the abyss that awaited him.

His hand began to slide away from the narrow corner of the ground. He gasped, “Sans… help…” as he used his other hand to keep his grip. However, it didn’t help the tiredness in his hands. His grip gave out completely, and he closed his eyes in worry as he embraced the sweet sense of death.

And then Sans caught his hand.

Sans wobbled forward as he grabbed onto his father’s wrist, losing his footing on the ground as well. He slipped down the abyss, using his free hand to catch the platform once more. Now in his father’s shoes, he struggled to keep himself and Gaster from meeting the pit under them.

“Dad… I got you,” Sans gasped, looking down at him. He could see his widened eye sockets and his large frown. He could see the terror written all over his face. Sans shared the same expression when he tried to pull himself back up. He proceeded to struggle, making his grip even looser.

“You can’t pull us back up, huh?” Gaster’s faint voice muttered. Sans shook his head in response. “I really should've done something about these cliffs. I knew they’d be nothing but trouble one day.”

“Dad, now’s not the time for blaming yourself.” Sans’ panic rose as he readjusted his hand, knowing that there wasn’t much time before his grip would give out the same way Gaster’s did.

One of them had to come up with an idea, and they’d have to come up with it _quickly_.

“Sans… just please promise me one thing…” Gaster whispered darkly. Sans didn’t respond. His worst fear was growing and growing.

 _“It’s not true, it’s not true, it’s not true,”_ Sans thought. He took a deep breath and looked down, looking his father in the eyes.

“Please take good care of Papyrus. I love you, son.” Sans’ expression dropped.

And so did the weight in his right hand.

Sans pulled himself up and became safe from the depths of the Core. He looked down and screamed, “DAD!” He waited for a response. He hoped and screamed and cried. Something, anything. Staring into the darkness below him, Sans gasped as realization settled in.

Dr. W.D Gaster fell into the Core. Nobody would ever see him again. He’d never take another breath.

Sans will never hear his voice again.

* * *

 

His arms burned. His spine was cracking into small pieces. His legs were numb and his face was barely even attached to the rest of his body. His eyesight was blurry, and ringing filled his eardrums.

Gaster was slowly and painfully getting his soul torn to shreds.

 _“I’d hit myself in the head if I could,”_ Gaster thought, his thoughts becoming darker than the bottomless pit surrounding him. _“I’ve let everyone down. King Asgore, Queen Toriel, Sans, Papyrus. The Royal Guard, all the citizens. Everyone.”_

Gaster stopped. His could feel his slowly-beating heart stop for a moment.

_“I especially disappointed… **Arial**.”_

She sacrificed himself for him. And what did he do in return? Get himself killed thanks to his own creation. Gaster sunk deeper into his thoughts. Thoughts of the war. Thoughts of his creations and work.

Thoughts of Arial.

* * *

 

_The Royal Scientists didn’t often go outside of the castle. They were always working. It was work, more work, sleep, then work again. The two of them were always around each other, yet they were never tired of each other._

_Others wondered how. How could they not be annoyed with one another all the time? How could two minds be so synced together? Just… how?_

_Nobody knew the answer._

_“Hey, G,” Arial greeted as she closed the door to the lab, walking down the steps and putting her jacket on a coathanger close by. “How’s the Gasterblasters coming along?”_

_“Fine, I guess,” Gaster mumbled back, staring at the blue paper spread across the table he sat by. Arial sat next to him, making Gaster flinch. Puzzled, yet ignoring the strange behavior, Arial observed the marks on the blueprints._

_“Hm, I like the changes you made,” Arial commented. “Between King Asgore’s comments and your corrections, I think we’re good to go. We should probably start making them tomorrow. Sound good?”_

_“Sure.”_

_Arial pursed her lips together at Gaster’s short response. She shifted her body over to directly look at him._

_“G, you ok?”_

_“I’m fine.”_

_“We’ve been partners for over four years. I think I know by now when you're ok and not ok.”_

_Gaster sighed sadly. She knew everything about him, inside and out. She knew him so well._

_But at the same time, she didn’t._

_“Is it worth it?” Gaster questioned. Arial was taken aback by his question._

_“Worth what?”_

_“Is it worth killing the humans?” Gaster added._

_“Wh-What are you talking about?” Arial frowned. “This isn’t like you, Gaster. Have you been sleeping? Are you dehydrated?”_

_“Maybe I haven’t been sleeping, but that doesn't change my mind!” Gaster snapped. “There are innocent humans out there who don’t want to go to war with us. We shouldn’t kill them. What’s the point of killing humans if they don’t want to hurt us?”_

_“The point is that humans are threatening us, and it's becoming dangerous to our society,” Arial growled. “Will it be unfortunate? Yes, but we must protect ourselves. We are important too.”_

_Gaster sighed, staring at the floor. “I guess I just feel bad for the humans who don’t deserve this.”_

_“There will always be someone who doesn’t deserve it,” Arial whispered. “But we’re fighting for our lives now. Our focus has to be on the ones who do deserve it. The ones who’s going to get their asses served to them in this war.”_

_Gaster laughed, causing a smile to appear on Arial’s face. He stood up, crossing his arms. He slowly turned back around, still smiling._

_“How can someone so sweet like you also have so much strength and resilience?”_

_Arial blushed, laughing. “Not sure. It’s just in my nature.”_

_“It’s beautiful, that’s what it is,” Gaster whispered. Arial smiled once more, avoiding eye contact with him. Gaster’s face softened._

_She never realized how much she meant. How her strength and passion motivated his strength and passion. How her laugh lifted his spirits and her smile planted a smile on his face. How her kind heart kept him content._

_That day, he realized the answer. Why he could never fight with her. Why she inspired him. Why he’d carry on for her. Why he’d fight for her._

_Love was the answer._

_She was the fire in his soul, giving him energy and fuel for the rest of his life._

* * *

 

Now the fire was burning out.

Gaster could already hear his funeral. The sobs of his sons, his friends, the members of the monster society. Woes, aches, and griefs. He could practically see the tears spilling from their eyes and hear the sniffles.

He could hear King Asgore’s speech already. The admirable things he’d say about him.

_“Dr. W.D Gaster was the greatest scientist of the monsters. He was brilliant like no other, and nobody could replace his talent. His loss has created a large hole in our already-aching society. W.D Gaster was survived by his two sons, Sans and Papyrus.”_

_“Arial,”_ Gaster thought. _"I most of all survived because of Arial.”_

As his last thought entered and exited his brain, his mind went blank. Not another thought went through his skull. Not another sight went through his eye sockets. Not another emotion of love for his late lover jabbed into his shredded heart.

His soul tore in half.


	12. One Last Push

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If you never budge, don't expect a push." ~Malcolm Forbes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahshdowsnfnw I'm sorry I'm sorry !!!!  
> I'll get better about updates. I promise. I'm working on it.  
> Fun fact: this chapter was mostly edited and then A03 deleted the whole thing!!! Thanks A03, I lost well over an hour of sleep to rewrite this chapter!! You're a true pal!!!!!  
> (I've had a bad day, sorry lol. Just a little pissed at this website cause I worked really hard lol. Anyways enjoy!)

“Okay everyone, are you ready?” The small child of determination looked across the Ruins, locating where their housemates were. There, they saw the child of bravery, the child of perseverance, the child of “kindness”, and the child of justice. All four of them stood next to each other.

Frisk, the child of determination, glanced down the hall and waited for the child of integrity, Sagax, to tell them when the others were ready. Their deep brown eyes shone as they saw the teenage girl jog back to them.

“They’re ready,” Sagax’s elegant voice rang out. Frisk nodded as they watched her sit on the ground next to Libertas, the child of patience. Libertas giggled, smiling largely. Frisk shared her smile back, then looked down the hall once more.

“On your mark, get set… _**GO**_!” they called.

All four children at the end of the hall began sprinting at full speed. Fides, the child of perseverance, was the first to fall behind of the others.

 _“Well, I’ve never been one to be athletic,”_ Fides thought, blowing a streak of blonde hair out of his face.

The child of “kindness”, Manus, inhaled and exhaled through his mouth as he saw Erigo ahead of him. The child of bravery, the oldest and strongest, always excelled in anything physical. He also excelled in attempting to keep Manus under control with the unkindness leaked in his soul. Even if it didn’t always work, Erigo would find a way to make sure what was on his mind got through to him.

But Manus was ready to finally beat him.

The child of justice, Laetus, groaned as their feet went numb. They couldn’t feel themself soaring across the hall; they were floating. They gasped as they looked down, feeling like their numb feet would trip over each other at any second.

“Just don’t think of it, just don’t think of it,” they whispered. Their heart pounded, the echoes of it banging their head.

Manus continued to sprint, watching himself zoom past his best friend, who was slowing down due to exhaustion. His eyes averted back to Erigo, who was still ahead. He growled as he exhaled through his nose.

“Come on Erigo, you can do it!” Libertas called, her sweet-as-honey voice ringing through her best friend’s ears. With a new source of pride and encouragement, Erigo pushed further to reach the end.

“This is going to be a close one,” Frisk commented, seeing the gap between the two boys closing. They dashed further and further, sweat reaching their eyes and stinging them. Sweat dripped off their hair, flying away due to their speeds.

“And the winner is…” Sagax began. A body swept past her, Libertas, and Frisk, causing a large gust of wind to blow through their knotted hair. “Erigo!”

The others clapped as Erigo bowed, breathing heavily. He could feel his brown hair matted against his head, with sweat pouring from his hair and down the sides of his face. Not caring, Libertas ran over to him and hugged him tightly.

Manus kicked a rock across the ground, crossing his arms and frowning. He grumbled curses under his breath. He looked back over at the group, who all were congratulating Erigo. He shook his head, running a hand through his dark brown, nearly black, hair, as the knots tangled between his fingers and pulled at his scalp.

“Hey Manus,” Laetus spoke up, inching closer to the boy of unkindness. Manus turned around slightly, recognizing Laetus’ voice. They reached their hand out for a handshake. “Good game.”

Manus, slightly shocked at the kind gesture, stepped back a little as a natural reaction. Then he remembered; Laetus was a child of justice. They’d do anything for everyone to have justice in accomplishments, whether they won or lost. Manus put his hand out, shaking their hand.

“Good game.”

“Everyone, the pie is ready!” Toriel, the caretaker of the children, appeared from the doorway with a messy apron from baking. Asriel, Toriel’s only son, also appeared with batter and ingredients stuck to his fur. Toriel chuckled as she patted her son on the head as a way to say thanks for helping her make the butterscotch-cinnamon pie.

“Come on everyone, let’s get some pie!” Asriel exclaimed. All eight of the children rushed inside, racing to the kitchen. Asriel and Frisk, who were at the front, stopped at the entrance. This led for Libertas, Sagax, Fides, and Laetus to bump into them. Then Erigo and Manus toppled over them, causing multiple groans.

“Sans?”

“Heya,” the skeleton greeted. He sat at the dining table, his feet stretched up. He was leaning back in his chair, looking like he could fall backwards at any moment. He didn’t though, and stayed still as a rock.

“What are you doing here?” Libertas asked, pushing through the crowd of children.

“Eh, just chilling with Toriel,” Sans answered, chuckling. “I was going to leave in a minute, but I’d hate to miss out on having a slice of my favorite pie with some of my favorite children.” The others giggled excitedly as they poured into the kitchen. They each stole seats around the table, waiting with glee for the pie.

“Here it is!” Toriel sang, taking the pie off of the cooling rack and placing it on the center of the table. “Erigo, would you be okay with slicing pieces for everyone?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Erigo said. He picked up a knife and began to cut pieces out of the pie. “Libertas should get the first slice. After all, today is her fifteenth birthday.” She smiled widely as a large slice of pie was placed in front of her.

“Next, Sagax,” Erigo continued. “Who has just celebrated her 200th show with Mettaton!” Sagax cheered as he placed the pie in front of her.

“To Laetus, who has found scientific breakthroughs about the Core with Alphys,” Erigo continued. Sans froze up at the mention of the Core, but nobody seemed to notice. “And to Fides for helping the spiders stuck at the Ruins finally get home.” Both Laetus and Fides fist-bumped as they got their slices of pie.

“For Asriel and Toriel, who made the pie,” Erigo continued. “For Sans, for helping keep us safe while our lives were in danger. And for Frisk, who saved us all from dying in the Underground.”

Erigo served everyone at the table, slicing and giving pies faster than he could speak. Everyone picked forks and dug in, sighing happily at the delightful taste of the pie.

“Um, Erigo,” an angry voice growled. “Haven’t you forgotten someone?” Erigo looked back at one of the younger of the children, Manus. He looked annoyed and impatient, and he knew exactly why.

Why not mess with him a bit?

“Oh, silly me,” Erigo laughed. “How could I forget?” A small smile appeared on Manus’ face as Erigo cut another slice and placed it on a clean plate. “A slice of pie for… me! For serving everyone and being such a great adultlike figure for the younger children!” The smile on Manus’ face wiped off, and his thick eyebrows furrowed.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” Manus screamed. “YOU SERVE EVERYONE ELSE, BUT NOT ME?! YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME?”

“Oh my gosh, take a chill pill,” Erigo groaned. He tossed the pie to Manus. “I don’t usually reward bad behavior, but you’ve caught me in a good mood. So there.” Finally slicing a pie for himself, he sat down between Sans and Libertas to begin enjoying the dessert with them.

“Did it come out good?” Toriel asked. “I surely think it did.”

“As always!” Sagax answered, honesty in her voice.

“It was amazing!” Laetus exclaimed.

“Yeah, I loved it as well,” Sans added. Toriel smiled, thanking everyone for the shower of compliments. “Welp, I love staying here, but I should get back to Papyrus. He’s probably waiting for that bedtime story.”

“That’s actually good timing, the children should start getting ready for bed anyway,” Toriel added. Choruses of, “But Toriellllll!” rang through the kitchen, making her laugh. “No buts. Now go.” The children, one by one, exited the room. Sans followed, saying his goodbyes.

Erigo, one of the last children to leave the kitchen, tiredly headed towards his and Libertas’ room. He had just crossed the staircase to the basement, when he heard,

“Erigo, can I talk to you?”

He froze when he heard those words. Already knowing who it was, he nodded slightly. Then he shuffled down the stairs, with the person who asked to talk to him following.

“Frisk, what’s going on?” Frisk turned around to find the spirit of Chara standing next to them. Frisk shrugged, unsure. “That’s odd. What could he want to talk to Erigo about?” Asriel, the only other person able to see Chara, also shrugged. He then left to start getting ready for bed, wanting to avoid getting yelled at by Toriel.

Erigo stopped by the end of the stairs. He sighed deeply, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He turned around, looking down at the short skeleton.

“You know it’s been awhile since _he_ died, right?” Sans turned around to look at the mature boy. He was much smaller, much weaker, much younger then. Now at age 17, he had grown nearly a foot and gained lots of maturity.

And that included him gaining an understanding of what happened when Gaster fell into the Core.

“Yes,” Erigo whispered.

“And the experiments completely stopped afterwards. There was no way I was able to continue them.”

“Yes,” he repeated.

Silence. Long, aching silence.

“There’s one experiment left. I’m going to do it.” Sans’ statement caused Erigo to step back a bit. He arched one of his bushy eyebrows.

“Isn’t that too dangerous?” he gasped.

“It is,” Sans muttered. “But I was thinking. Dad risked his life for the monsters here, and me, so many times. And if there’s one way I’d want to go, it’s the same way my father did. I want to take the risk; I want to do all that I can to free us.”

“...When?” Erigo simply asked.

“Tonight. I’m going to break into Alphys’ lab and finally finish what Dad and I started.”

It was a lot for Erigo to take in. Sure, he’d been in tight situations before, between growing up and facing harsh truths or getting himself into fights during work. This was different though. Someone who he practically grew up with was going to _risk his life_ for the sake of monsters.

What was he supposed to say?

“...Good luck.” Erigo began towards the stairs. He stopped right in front of them and turned back around. “Sans, can you promise that if these experiments work… we can go back to the surface? Just to, you know, be able to see it again? It’s been so long.”

“I’ll see what I can do, kid,” Sans answered.

“Okay,” he sighed. He gave the skeleton a small smile. “Please stay safe.” The two of them exited their separate ways. Sans leaving through the doors to go back to Snowdin, and Erigo to go upstairs and join the rest of the children.

But Sans wasn’t going to Snowdin.

* * *

 

_(Start music suggestion now: https://youtu.be/jb8E8NQCErg)_

Sans hadn’t stepped into the science lab at Hotland since the day of his father’s death. Who knows how much of his stuff was still there, probably stuffed into packages and stored far away.

Just like his memories of him.

He took a deep breath as he entered the code entering into the depths of his father’s old lab. His breath got uneasy as he stepped in, never have been in it alone before. He barely could remember what it looked like on the inside. How was he supposed to know where all the materials for their experiments were?

Some things were different. It was dark. It was eerie. It was older than the dirt of the Underground. Lots of Alphys’ stuff was found here and there in the lab, whether it was blueprints or chemicals of different colors in various bottle sizes. It actually pained Sans a little to see all of Alphys’ stuff and almost none of Gaster’s.

It technically wasn’t Gaster’s lab anymore.

“Is it this room?” he muttered. He entered a code into the scan system by a locked door. Loud dings echoed off the hollowed halls, making Sans worried that Alphys could hear him. The doors swooshed open, and a gust of cold air chilled his bones.

He found it.

“She probably hasn’t touched this room, everything’s the same,” Sans muttered. The bed he’d be strapped to. The machine, layered with dust. The boss monster magic, confined in a single bottle, resting on the table by the machine. The label read in Gaster’s handwriting; “For the final test.”

Sans took the bottle and popped the cap open. Seeing his father do it many times before, he poured the glowing liquid into the machine. He sighed loudly, realization hitting him that he was going to be in his father’s shoes and become the scientist.

_Click, click, click, click._

_“Shit, she’s coming.”_ Sans turned the machine on, as it came to life and blurted many blaring beeps and alarms. He attached the correct tubes to the right parts of his body; two on each arm, two on each leg, and one directly where his soul rested in his ribcage. The tubes felt just the same as they used to: cold, rubbery, and terrifying.

“H-Hello? Wh-Who’s down here?” She was right outside of the room.

“You shouldn’t be here!” Sans yelled. He jumped onto the table, beginning to strap himself down so that he was stable.

“S-Sans? A-A-Am I h-hearing that v-voice correctly?”

“You are, now leave!” Sans called. A wave of anxiety bounced through him as he eyed the button on the remote lying next to him. He picked it up and held it in his hands for a moment.

“I-I’m c-coming in!” The doors slid open in an instant, and the new Royal Scientist gasped.

“S-Sans… what i-is th-this?”

“Alphys, you need to leave.”

“N-No! Not u-until I kn-know what this is!”

“An experiment from when Dad was the scientist. Now _go_.”

“Wh...Wha-”

“I said _**go**_!” Sans’ finger wavered over the button. “This’ll be more painful for you than me. Get out of here.”

“D-Don’t push that button Sans… you don’t know what it can do to you,” Alphys whispered. Tears welled up in Sans’ eye sockets.

“Yes I do,” he muttered. “And I’m willing to take the risk. For you, for the monsters, for the children. And most of all, for Dad.”

_Click._

Sans laid directly on the bed, letting fear paralyze him. The sounds all were familiar to his eardrums. _Boop, beep, bloop, boom._

_Diiiiiiiiiiiiing. Ding, ding, DING, DING._

“SANS, N-NO!”

* * *

 

“What… the fuck.” Sans couldn’t feel anything in his body. He was numb, from head to toe. His vision started out blurry and slowly cleared as his eyes adjusted to the light of the room. As his eyes got wider and his vision cleared, he noticed Alphys’ face looking down on him.

“Oh, hey Alphys. ‘Sup?”

“Y-You know what’s ‘sup,” Alphys stammered. “You f-f-freaked me out! I w-w-was terrified for y-your life! Wh-What did you d-do to yourself?”

“It’s a long story,” Sans muttered. “But to sum it up, I added enough boss monster magic to my soul to possibly make my soul strong enough to cross the barrier.”

“A-And how would you do that?” Alphys questioned, taken aback.

“Teleportation,” Sans answered.

“So this final experiment made you strong enough to do that?”

“I think so.”

“Well, try it.”

Sans took a shaky breath. His limbs still wobbly, he stood with one hand holding onto the bed. He groaned in pain.

But determination led him to let go and stand straight. He closed his eyes in concentration and sighed.

 _“The surface,”_ he thought. _“I want to go to the surface.”_

Sans opened his eyes and saw his soul, now oozing with blue glowing magic, appearing in front of him. Even Alphys, looking ready to faint, had never seen anything like it.

And _poof!_ He was gone.


	13. Here We Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th." ~Julie Andrews

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been finding places here and there to write this chapter. It's a little shorter and a tad bit rushed in my opinion, but I just needed a filler chapter. I hope you like this one! It's the last chapter before some pretty heart-wrenching stuff happens... >:)

Rustling trees. Wind blowing by, leaving chills running down a spine. Sunlight bright enough to melt a pair of eyes.

Fresh air.

Is he…?

Sans opened his eyes and was immediately greeted with an intense, yet euphoric, burning sensation. He immediately covered his eyes with his bony hands. Then unveiling them away slowly, he gasped.

Hues of orange, yellow, pink, and baby blue shone across the sky above him. For miles and miles, only mountains and trees could be seen. A portion of the Sun began to rise over the horizon, making the puffy clouds around it glow golden rays.

Sans looked down. He was surrounded by lush trees filled with green leaves. The dirt was hard and rocky against his bare feet. He looked down from where he was to find small villages scattered across the land below him. Then he turned around.

Right in front of him was the hole that led to the Underground. The same hole that eight children fell down at one point of history. The same hole where the barrier locked away his species.

The hole of Mount Ebott.

“So… I made it,” Sans whispered. He turned back to face the sunrise, and he allowed his body to soak in the beauty that was the light of the surface. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, allowing warmth to cover him in a blanket of sunlight.

Then he turned around once more. He opened his eyes and looked down the hole. He imagined his father somewhere inside the Core, scared and cold-dead. But instead of being filled with sadness, he was happy.

“Long live the magic we made, Dad,” Sans whispered. “You were right. And I finished it. We did it. We made it.”

A new chapter was opened for the monsters. Sans could finally teleport monsters outside of the barrier. They can experience life on the surface. Go and see new places. See new things that they’ve only heard of or read from books.

See the humans.

“Oh shoot, the humans will be pissed if they see me or any monsters,” Sans thought. “I need a disguise. I need help.”

Sans knew two humans who’d be willing to hear this news from him.

* * *

 

"Ok, listen to me,” Sans instructed. “Each of you, grab one of my shoulders. Hopefully, when I teleport, you’ll teleport with me. At least, that’s what I think will happen. Got it?” Both Frisk and Chara looked at each other, then nodded. They each placed a hand on Sans’ shoulder, waiting for him to teleport. A flash went by, and everything went dark for a moment.

“What the…” Frisk breathed. They opened their eyes and gasped at the light. Their natural instinct was to cover their eyes from the sunlight, but then they uncovered their eyes. It was light. They hadn’t seen light in years, and they forgot what it looked like.

Both Frisk and Chara glanced around the top of the mountain, watching the sun shine and the wind blow by their hair. They saw the small villages below them and the large mountains surrounding them.

“It’s actually the surface,” Frisk whispered.

“You and that crazy old scientist really did it,” Chara gasped.

“What do you think?” Sans asked, smirking.

“It’s amazing!” Frisk yelled. “Do you have any idea how many opportunities have opened up for the monsters? And all the children will get to see the surface again!”

“True,” Sans sighed. “But it’s still not safe for monsters to be out here roaming the surface yet. It’s too risky; humans think we’re still trapped in the barrier.” Chara and Frisk both paused.

“He’s got a point,” Chara muttered to themself.

“We’ll have to figure out a way to reason with the humans about helping us break the barrier and giving monsters another chance at living with them,” Frisk thought out loud. “But also, we shouldn’t rush it.”

“Sans needs time to adjust to this new ability and really know what he’s doing,” Chara noted. Frisk nodded in agreement.

“I do want time to relax before jumping into more serious work,” Sans yawned. “I’m done with being serious and stern for a while. I want to be my fun and lazy self again.”

“So… what are you going to do until we have a confirmed plan on how to handle this situation?” Frisk asked. Sans thought for a moment. What was he going to do? He’d have to share his discovery with the king eventually, and others would find out in no time. He did know for sure though that Papyrus couldn’t know. He and his father hid the secret from him for so long, and telling him now would hurt him.

“All I know is I don’t want everyone knowing yet,” Sans responded. “So the other children can know, and I’ll tell Toriel. Alphys knows too, and I’m sure Undyne can be trusted if she hid Manus from the Royal Guard as long as she has.”

“The other children!” Frisk gasped. “Are you going to take the others to see the surface? It’s been so long since they’ve seen it.”

Sans stopped and thought back to his conversation with Erigo. The promise they made. If the last experiment worked, the others wanted to go to the surface. He must keep his promise.

“Yes,” Sans answered. “The children will blend in fine, but I need a disguise to make sure nobody sees I'm a monster.”

“Oh, true,” Frisk said. “It should be fine as long as nobody sees that you’re a skeleton. Just hide your face, hands, and feet. Wear long clothing, closed shoes, and gloves.”

“What about the face?” Sans questioned. Chara rolled their eyes.

“A mask?” Frisk suggested. “Or just use glasses so nobody sees your whole face.”

“Hm,” Sans sighed. “I’ll figure it out. But for now, we should go back.”

“Yeah, we should,” Frisk agreed. “It’s day, so people could catch us.” Frisk and Chara each grabbed one of Sans’ arm, and in an instant they vanished.

“Sans, which child are you going to take to the surface first?!” Frisk questioned, bouncing with curiosity.

“Oh, yeah, which child are you going to take?” Chara added.

“Which one will I take first?” Sans repeated. It was clear in his mind who he should take first. The one who even mentioned taking them to the surface. The one who’s stood by Sans’ side the longest, no matter what.

“I’m going to take Erigo first.”


	14. Eye of the Tiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." ~Christopher Reeve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the series of pain begins... >:) Sorry y'all, this was painful for me too.
> 
> I'm sorry that this chapter took a while to write. This is a longer chapter, and I'm putting a lot of work into the childrens' backstories. Also, I've been struggling majorly with some personal stuff. I mean, I'll be okay... I just have to heal. The chapter format decided to mess around with me at 12:31 am too, so this would've came out sooner, but no.  
> Oh well.  
> Without further ado, here is the new chapter!

“Sans, where are we?” Erigo gasped, staring at his surroundings.

“Does this look familiar to you?” Sans asked. “Welcome to the streets of New Orleans! I heard from Toriel that you and your father would go to their festivals every year, so I thought I’d bring you here!”

“It’s… the surface,” Erigo gasped. He breathed in the fresh air and let the warm sun devour him. He laughed. “It’s been years. I cannot believe… it worked.”

“They worked.” Sans looked down at the ground. “I promised that you and the others could go and see the surface once I knew the experiments worked for sure. I thought you’d go first, because I promised you.”

“New Orleans,” Erigo sighed. “It looks just how I remembered it. It’s… so pretty.” Erigo sat on a grassy hill by the streets, feeling the cool grass between his fingers when he rested his hands on it. “Wow.”

“Wow is right,” Sans chuckled. “I’m still not used to this.”

“It feels unnatural to me too,” Erigo laughed. He paused. “It’s weird to think Dad started taking me to New Orleans festivals after everything that separated us.”

“Separated you?” Sans asked. “You didn’t have a good relationship with him?” Erigo shrugged in response. “What happened?”

“It… all started with my Grandpa Reynold,” Erigo answered. “My grandpa was the true role model in my life. He was the main reason I boxed.”

* * *

 

_“Remember Erigo, keep your head up,” an old man said to a young boy. He perked his head up, facing the punching bag. His eyesight sharpened as he felt his eyebrows furrow, frowning. Tension rose as his muscles tightened._

_“Relax,” the man reminded the boy. “Don’t strain your muscles. You’re stronger when you’re more relaxed.” The boy closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. Relax… relax. That’s all he kept telling himself. When he opened his eyes again, his mind was a clean slate, his only focus on the punching bag. All other stresses didn’t exist for the time being._

_“Now, before you punch, make sure you know **where** you want to punch,” the man suggested. “Keep your eyes on the target at all time, whether it’s the top, middle, or bottom of the punching bag.” The man paused. “Do you see your target?”_

_“Yes,” Erigo answered. The old man observed Erigo’s eyes, which were directed towards the middle of the bag._

_“Good,” the man said. “As you’re punching, make sure your body moves with you. When you exhale, the foot pivots, the hips turn, and the shoulders rotate. And that’s when you extend your arm and tighten your fist. Do you understand?” Erigo nodded. The man hesitated before saying his next question._

_“Do you want to practice befo-”_

_“I got this.”_

_The old man was taken aback a little. Nonetheless, he nodded after a small chuckle. This was his grandson in front of him; he had his genes for sure. “Go ahead then. Show me you can do it.”_

_Erigo took a deep inhale. He bared his teeth before his exhale. He could feel his body moving with him as he punched the bag with as much strength in his 12-year-old body as he could contain. The bag swung forward, and gravity swooshed it back towards Erigo._

_“It’s coming back Erigo! Punch it again!” Not expecting the man to tell him that, Erigo gasped and attempted to prepare himself again. He was too late though, and he strongly, yet incorrectly, punched the bag._

_“Ahh!” he cried out, immediately clutching his left wrist with his right hand. The old man jumped into the boxing ring, stopping the punching bag from swinging any more. He then rushed to Erigo’s side to observe his injury._

_“Yep, looks like it’s sprained again,” the man said. “I’ll bandage it for you.” He led Erigo out of the boxing ring and into the locker room. He grabbed bandages out of his locker as he said, “Start unwrapping your hands.”_

_The air was tense as Erigo unbandaged his hands. It was mostly silent, the only exception being Erigo groaning in pain a couple times whenever he moved his wrist. The man then proceeded to rebandage his wrist so that it could heal._

_“Grandpa Reynold?” Erigo said, breaking the silence. His grandfather looked up and stopped bandaging. “Will… will I ever be good at boxing?”_

_“Are you kidding?!” Grandpa Reynold exclaimed. “You’re **amazing** Erigo! Sure we have to work on a few things, but with more practice you’ll be perfect!” _

_“I don’t know, I just… I feel like if I was actually good enough, I wouldn’t have anything to work on,” Erigo sighed._

_“Erigo, nobody’s perfect the first time,” Grandpa Reynold chuckled, starting to wrap his wrist again. “Everything takes practice. I can promise you that if you work hard and continue doing lessons with me, you'll be one of the greatest 12-year-old boxers ever!”_

_“Really?” Erigo whispered. Grandpa Reynold nodded, his brown eyes glowing with reassurance and hope. Erigo threw his arms around his grandpa. “Thank you. I’ll keep working... I'll work for you."_  

_Grandpa Reynold held his grandson in his arms until he felt his phone vibrate in his pants. He took his phone out, only to read a message he was hoping would never arrive._

_**“Reynold, your CT Scan results arrived. Come to my office ASAP. We need to talk.” -Dr. Tom.** _

_“Who was that Grandpa Reynold?” Erigo asked. He sighed deeply, feeling the sorrow and anxiety growing in the pit of his stomach. He placed his phone back in his jean pocket and hugged Erigo even tighter than before._

_“Ah, nothing important.”_

* * *

 

_“How long has he been like that?” the lady asked. She brushed a strand of hazelnut-brown hair from her face and tucked it behind her small ear. Her husband, as tense as her, shrugged with uncertainty. She proceeded to bite her fingernail, which was already torn to the stub._

_The man walked up to the door once again and knocked lightly on it. “Erigo? Can you please come out of there? We want to talk to you.”_

_“GO AWAY!”_

_“Erigo, please,” the lady begged. “We’re just as pained from this as you are.”_

_“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” Erigo cried from inside. He paused with a couple sniffles. “You were prepared. I wasn’t. Nobody told me a damn thing.”  
Both of Erigo’s parents stopped. What were they supposed to say to that? He was right. He knew nothing of his grandfather and how sick he was. He wasn’t told how long he was expected to live or why he’d have to cancel boxing practice with him sometimes. Erigo knew nothing. And while it was unfair, it was right. They just couldn’t tell him, especially Grandpa Reynold._

_“That was upon Grandpa’s Reynold’s wish, Erigo,” Erigo’s mother explained slowly, carefully choosing her words. “He didn’t want to… hurt you while he was sick."_

_“All he did was hurt me more!” Erigo cried. There was a long silence from his end. The air was still thick and tense. “Just… leave me alone. I’ll be fine.”_

_“But-” his mother whispered._

_“Georgia,” his father interrupted. “We should leave him alone.”_

_“He needs someone, Lucas,” Georgia snapped._

_“He needs to be left alone,” Lucas said. “That’s what he wants. If we couldn’t tell him about everything while your dad was still alive, then we can at least respect what he wants. Let’s go.” She crossed her arms angrily, but she listened. She walked away from Erigo’s room, with Lucas following, grabbing her hand and comforting her._

* * *

 

“So they never told you about your grandfather’s tumor?” Sans asked. Erigo took a shaky, deep breath. He wiped away a tear that had slipped from the corner of his eye.

“Nope,” he answered. “Nobody told me a thing. I felt abandoned from my family. Everyone knew, even my younger brother, Charlie, knew. But I didn’t, because everyone knew I’d be the most hurt about it. My connection with him was like no other. Either way, I was going to get hurt though. They thought they were protecting me, but they only hurt me more.”

“So what happened after?” Sans questioned.

“I… went in a long downward spiral,” Erigo answered. “I became distant, and I lost all my emotions. Well, except for sadness and anger…”

* * *

 

_“So how do we take care of him now?” Georgia asked._

_“Nothing in your parenting has to change,” the doctor answered. “Just… understand that he is struggling right now. Talk to him about coping skills. Seeing a therapist to talk out his feelings might help too. Or even anger management classes, although that may not be the safest environment for someone his age. I think therapy sessions and new coping methods will help though. And if there’s no improvement after two months, we can begin medica-”_

_**SLAM!!** _

_“I don’t need fucking medication,” Erigo mumbled. “I don’t need therapy. I don’t need coping skills. I just need space. I need everyone to leave me alone!!” His body felt detached from his mind, and the next thing he knew another hole was in his wall._

_“Shit…” his head spun with dizziness as he looked around the room. Holes from previous days surrounded him. He didn’t remember making any of them. Each and every one of them were from anger spiraling him into blackouts._

_“Maybe this is a problem,” Erigo whispered. “But I don’t need therapy. I don’t need any of it. I’ll be fine eventually. I… just… need… time.”_

_“But what if time doesn’t end this?”_

_Erigo sat on his bed, feeling like his world was collapsing around him. There wasn’t someone in his life that he could look up to anymore. No friends, no trusting family, nothing. He was alone in the universe, just him and his isolated, angry feelings. Screams escaped from Erigo’s lips, with no thought being put into it. He squeezed his eyes and pulled at the hairs in his scalp. Giant, heavy, salty tears spilled out and covered his face, staining his pillow and blankets. His throat became sore and his voice grew weary. He stopped, but the tears continued to fall without hesitation. He sighed loudly._

_“Grandpa, I need you. I miss you.”_

* * *

 

_“Hey, buffkins!” Erigo flinched when he heard the familiar, yet toxic, nickname. He was just about to leave the school grounds how did they catch him? He was leaving earlier than usual. His body tensed up, and he could feel his mind dizzying with overwhelming anger._

_He was not in the mood._

_“See you’re trying to leave early, huh?” the tall, snarky kid commented. He leaned towards Erigo, a smug look on his face. Erigo used all his willpower to not slap off any of his freckles scattered on his face._

_“Yep,” he said. “To get away from you.”_

_“Ooh,” the bully mocked. He turned around to his two friends standing behind him. “You hear that? Erigo doesn’t want to see me. How rude.”_

_“So disrespectful,” one of the friends commented._

_“What kind of friend are you?” the other giggled._

_“What do you want, Brian?” Erigo growled._

_“Well… I’ve been feeling sort of angry lately and have to let it out somehow,” Brian chuckled. “And I thought your face was ugly enough for me to use as a punching bag.” He cracked his knuckles, readying himself. Erigo could feel anger, and a small pit of fear, growing quickly._

_“No,” Erigo snapped. Brian grabbed Erigo’s shirt collar, keeping him from running away._

_“Why not?” Brian snarled. “You have **anger issues,** don’t you? So you understand.”_

_Erigo’s heart stopped for a moment. His recent diagnosis was a sensitive subject for him. However, it was a great target in Brian’s mind. Especially if he wanted to shut him down. He could feel his blood boiling as it ran through his veins._

_**Slam!!** He felt pain radiate across his face, leaving a mark that burned worse than hell. He staggered backwards, losing his balance and collapsing onto the rocky ground. Pebbles stabbed into his knees and hands. After a moment of silence, Erigo peeked his head up. A group of kids had formed around him and Brian. Some looked hungry for the action of a fight. Others looked scared._

_Erigo felt his nose. His mouth opened slightly at the sight of blood on his fingers. He then could feel the trickle of blood down his nose going into his mouth. The salty, bitter taste of his blood. His vengeance._

_“Your move, punk,” Brian snarled. He glared down at Erigo with his cunning green eyes. Erigo wiped the pebbles off his hands and knees, leaving marks. He pulled himself off the ground and frowned at Brian. He remained idle, not breaking his stare._

_He kept his head up, bravery fueling his anger._

_“Heh, fine,” Brian snickered. He leaned in for yet another punch. Erigo’s mind raced._

**_“Relax, Erigo.”_ **

**_Wham!_ **

_Erigo caught Brian’s fist in his hand. People surrounding them gasped. Erigo’s frown turned into a small smile. He pushed back Brian, making him stagger back. His two friends were there to catch him and prevent him from falling the same way Erigo did._

_Brian didn’t hesitate to try again._

**_“It’s coming back Erigo!”_ **

_Erigo let out a small gasp as he ducked under the punch. Kids whistled out and cheered with might, gaining Erigo a few fans. Erigo didn’t stop though. His mind continued to race as he turned to face the bully once more._

**_“As you’re punching, make sure your body moves with you. When you exhale, the foot pivots, the hips turn, and the shoulders rotate. And that’s when you extend your arm and tighten your fist.”_ **

_“Foot, hips, shoulders,” Erigo muttered. He could feel each body part move with his fist. He directed his eyes right at his target. Erigo’s powerful fist landed right in-between the eyes of his enemy. And he let out a mighty roar of defeat._

_Brian fell onto the ground, slamming his head on the ground._

_“You fucker,” Brian muttered under his breath. He quickly stood up, throwing a punch. His hand collided with Erigo’s face, landing him a swollen black eye. Erigo winced and covered the injured eye with his hand. When he uncovered it to prepare for another punch, the crowd of people gasped in shock._

_Erigo yelled out in anger and swung his arm, remembering to use the same methods as before. His fist landed in Brian’s mouth, and a crunch sound was heard. Kids gasped, yet there were cheers for Erigo mixed in. Brian slammed on the ground once more, looking guaranteed to not stand and try again. He screamed and cried in pain, blood spilling out of his mouth. Erigo looked down at his bully, to see his two front teeth missing, being the source of his bloody mouth. Erigo smirked, hoping that’d teach him to never try to mess with him again. People cheered for Erigo, surrounding him and hugging him. The two friends disappeared, hiding before Erigo could even think of landing a fist on either one of them._

_“A-ha!” A security guard grabbed Erigo’s arms, tugging them behind his back. Erigo screamed out as his muscles twitched and pulled. “What were you doing to that kid?” Erigo looked between the security guard pinning him and the second one behind him._

_“Protecting myself,” Erigo spat. Blood continued to pour out of his nose, making him smile. He looked around at the group of people who stayed, all staring at him. They were scared, yet amazed. Scared of what he was capable of, yet amazed of **what** he was capable of. The principal, who entered the scene just seconds after the security guard did, looked down at Brian, observing the scratches and blood on him._

_“Take him to the nurse’s and get him cleaned up,” the principal ordered. “You all, stay here. Nobody leaves until we figure out what happened.” The group of kids groaned, regretting staying for the fight. The second security guard picked Brian onto his feet and guided him to the nurse’s office as he continued to blubber and sob. The first security guard led Erigo to the nurse’s office, not letting go of his hands straining behind his back._

_Erigo looked up at the sky. The once-grey clouds that blocked the sun disappeared. Rays of sunlight glowed over him, relieving his pain with warmth. He closed his eyes and soaked in as much sunlight as possible before he’d be forced into the school._

_**“Thank you, Grandfather Reynold,”** Erigo thought._

* * *

 

“You showed that kid who’s boss,” Sans chuckled. No response. His smile faded, and he looked back at Erigo. He was turned away from him, staring at the starry sky.

“I still regret it to this day,” Erigo mumbled. “I wish I hadn’t done what I did. But I had no choice. I had to defend myself, and since that nobody has tried to mess with me ever. My parents understood my actions and weren’t mad at me. Sure, I had detention, but that was my only punishment. I wasn’t frowned upon anymore. Yet, I still regret it?”

Erigo crossed his arms and bit his bottom lip. Then a small laugh escaped his lips. “Maybe I regret it because I was so immature then. That was the lowest point of my life when it happened. But after that all I went was up. So I guess it had to happen for me to get to where I am now.”

“But that didn’t have anything to do with you falling down Mt. Ebott?” Sans questioned. Erigo turned back to face Sans.

“Do you think my fall was on purpose?” Erigo asked. Sans hesitated, but he nodded. “It wasn’t. It was a pure accident.”

“How?”

“A dare and a girl,” Erigo sighed. “I was out with a group of friends, doing Truth or Dare. Because that’s what the typical, immature teenager does, right? I wasn’t going to hang out with them at first, after hearing it was more than my first friend Tom. But then I heard the girl I was in love with would be there, and I said yes.” Erigo’s face softened. “June Hannah Auturns. She was something. Beautiful, bold, witty. Yet quiet and soft at the same time. I fell for her pretty hard and quickly. I thought it was just a pointless crush, but maybe it means something since I’m still in love with her. But she probably doesn’t remember me or what I did for her that night.”

* * *

 

_“Erigo!” a voice laughed after opening the front door. Erigo’s smile grew as he fist-bumped his best friend. “How are you, man?”_

_“Not too bad myself, what about you Tom?” Erigo asked. He didn’t wait for the short, blonde boy’s response, slipping off his shoes and entering the house._

_“Pretty good,” Tom replied. “Come on downstairs. The others are waiting.” Erigo’s heart skipped a beat._

_“Th-The others?” Erigo gulped._

_“Well, yeah,” Tom snickered. “Truth or Dare isn’t fun with only two people. I invited Beth, Oscar, and June over too.” Tom shot a wink at Erigo, who began to look uneasy._

_“I don’t know…” Erigo mumbled. It wasn’t too long after the incident with Brian occurred, and he wasn’t sure what to think of the entire thing yet. Not many people did either; most people were avoiding him at the moment. Some, like Tom, were friends with him. But others were still scared of him._

_Tom sighed a laugh. “Fine, go on home and be a **loser**.” He shrugged, smirking at Erigo. “Never fess up to your lover. Live in an apartment alone with 20 cats. I don’t mind.”_

_“Shut up,” Erigo laughed, with Tom snickering. “Fine, fine. I’ll go down there.” Tom patted Erigo on the back, nodding with approval. He then led himself and Erigo down to the basement._

_“Oh my God, Oscar!” Beth howled with laughter as she watched her best friend lick the bottom of his shoe. She held her sides, head hung over, as her ridiculously loud laugh echoed off the walls of the basement. The others joined her, laughing as they all watched Oscar gag with horror._

_“Please never make me do that again,” Oscar sighed. He held his chest, inhaling and exhaling sharply. The others continued to howl. “Sh-Shut up. Whoa, did you film that?”_

_“Hell yeah I did,” Tom laughed. “This is gonna get Internet famous, man!”_

_“Please no,” Oscar begged. The others laughed at him. “I, um, whatever. June, truth or dare?”_

_“Dare,” June answered, a cunning smile on her face. Erigo blushed at the simple sight of her cherry-red lips curling around her face._

_“Oooooh, yes!” Oscar snickered. “Tom, come here. What should I do?” Tom walked across the room to whisper in Oscar’s ear. A devious smile came across Tom’s face as Oscar whispered._

_“June, I dare you to kiss Erigo.”_

_**“God, I shouldn’t have agreed to stay,”** Erigo thought. His face fell and his heart rushed with excitement and fear._

_“A-Are you sure?” Erigo stuttered. “I mean, she doesn’t have to do that. I can take one for the team and kiss Oscar or someth-”_

_“I’ll do it,” June answered. Erigo’s eyes widened and he looked over. Her gleaming, hazel eyes locked with his, making his chest tighten over his fluttering heart. “I asked for a dare, so I have to do it. So I will.”_

_June stood up and crossed the room, not taking her glare off of Erigo. She sat down next to him, taking her hand to move his head and face her. She smiled once again._

_The anxiety grew to the point that Erigo’s mind was fuzzy._

_“I-I-I-I mean, if you want to,” Erigo muttered. “I have no objections against it, not saying that I like you or anything cause that’d be crazy hahahahaha. But I mean I have no objections because those are the rules of Truth or Dare-”_

_“Shh,” June hushed, putting her finger over Erigo’s mouth. “It’s easy.” She moved her hand under Erigo’s chin and pushed his cheeks to pucker his lips. She snickered. “I can tell you don’t do this often.” She places her lips on his._

_Erigo closed his eyes and allowed the emotions to overwash him. The fireworks feeling, the overwhelming sense of happiness and tranquility that came to his mind when her lips met his. The sudden feeling of… what was it… what could explain the combination of feelings he was experiencing? Love?_

_**“Love,”** he thought._

_And the feeling that felt like hours disappeared when her lips left his. He opened his eyes, mouth gaped wide, feeling her scent still drifting into his nose. He looked up at her, a dumbfounded look on his face. His only focus was on her face smiling back at him._

_“You bit my lip,” she simply said. Erigo snapped back into reality, and the wave of embarrassment washed over him. He gasped, realizing what had happened._

_“O-Oh, I’m sorry,” Erigo stuttered. “I-I didn’t mean to. I sorta got lost into it. Not saying that I liked the kiss, I just panicked.” June raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m not saying you’re a bad kisser, because you’re definitely are a good kisser. A **great** kisser as a matter-of-fact. I-I just-”_

_“Yeah, I get it,” June interrupted, a giggle escaping out of her lips after. Erigo nervously chuckled along with her. “My turn, isn’t it? Well, ok.” She brushed Erigo’s cheek. “Truth or dare, Erigo?”_

_“T-Truth?” Erigo squeaked._

_“Aw, boo!” Beth chimed in._

_“You’re the only person so far to have done a truth!” Tom groaned. “Laaaaaaame!” Beth, Oscar, June, and Tom yelled out various boos at Erigo. He stared at the ground, a grimace on his face. He could feel June’s lipstick between his lips. He could still smell her. He could still taste her minty breath on his tastebuds._ _He knew what he must do to avoid any more embarrassment._

_“Ok, dare.” Erigo looked up to see satisfaction on each of his friends. “Dare me. Do **any** dare you want, and I’ll do it without hesitation.” The four friends looked at each other with shock, yet pleasure. They huddled to decide Erigo’s fate, making nerves settle in Erigo’s stomach. What kind of twisted plan did they have for him? When they broke from the huddle, Beth said, “We’ll have to go outside for this one. Just follow us.”_

* * *

 

_“Guys?” Erigo mumbled. “Where are we going?” He looked up at the twisty dirt road that he and the others were following. The others snickered._

_“You’ll see when we get to the top,” was all Oscar said. Erigo sighed and crossed his arms, his question unanswered. The nighttime air was silent, with the exception of crickets chirping at the moonlight and occasional snickers from the group of friends._

_Wind gusts blew past Erigo, making his teeth chatter. He shivered, his body shaking uncontrollably, as he joined the others at the top of the large mountain. He gasped when he saw what the others were looking at._

_“Is that…?”_

_“It is,” June answered. “The hole of Mount Ebott. The same one a young girl supposedly disappeared at just eight months ago.” Erigo stepped closer to the hole, being cautious about not falling in. His jaw dropped as he looked inside the hole. How dark and depressing it looked from his angle._

_“So… what do you want me to do?” Erigo questioned. The four friends looked at each other, smiling._

_“Say anything that we want you to say into the hole,” Tom snickered. “We each get a sentence for you to scream into the hole.”_

_“That… That’s it?” Erigo stammered. He broke out into mighty roars of laughter. “I thought you’d want me to jump into the hole or something!”_

_“Whoa, dude, we’re not **that** cruel,” Oscar laughed. “But I want to go first. I want you to yell ‘humans rule, monsters drool’ into the hole.”_

_“Easy,” Erigo laughed. He laid down next to the hole. He poked his head inside of it, cupping his mouth with his hands. “HUMANS RULE, MONSTERS DROOL!” His screams echoed down the hole until his voice disappeared. His phrase was returned with silence._

_“Whoa… I wonder if any monsters down there are listening,” Beth whispered, lying down by the hole by Erigo. He shrugged._

_“There probably aren’t even monsters down there,” Tom chuckled. “All that shit they talk about in the history textbooks are probably myths our ancestors created or something.” There was a slight pause. “Hey, let’s see if there is anything down there. Erigo, say ‘answer if anyone’s down there.’”_

_“Heh, alright,” he answered. Cupping his mouth again, he called down for a response. However, he was met again with nothing. “Yeah, there probably isn’t anyone down there."_

_“Hmm, I sort of wanted to talk to a monster,” Beth muttered. She sighed and rested her head on her arms as she stared up at the skies. “Ooh, Erigo, you should mock the ‘monsters’ down there about how pretty the stars are. Because they can’t truly see the sky. That’s cruel, haha.”_

_“Hmm… yeah,” Erigo muttered. He was hesitant on this one, always having an unpopular opinion on the history of the humans and monsters. Especially about what the humans did to the monsters. He did what he was told though._

_“WOW, LOOK AT THOSE STARS! SO BRIGHT AND CLEAR IN THE SURFACE SKY! BOY, WOULD BE SUCH A SHAME TO NOT BE ABLE TO TRULY SEE STARS LIKE THESE!” Laughs were exchanged between the five teenagers._

_“Wow, that was cruel,” Beth sighed._

_“Not like there’s anything down there though,” Tom laughed. “June, you’re the last one. What should Erigo say?” June hummed as she laid down next to Erigo. She thought intently, causing Erigo to stare at her. She then smiled._

_“Actions speak louder than words,” June commented. “So, why don’t you throw something down there?”_

_"Like what?” Erigo laughed. June observed Erigo head to toe, looking to see what he could throw down there. Then, a smile emerged once again. Her signature smile._

_“Your bandanna.” Erigo immediately clutched onto the orange bandanna that he wore around his neck. He gulped, unraveling it. He looked down at the ragged piece of cloth. “Come on, do it. It’s a dare, after all. I kissed you for my dare, so you’ve got to do something for me.”_

_Erigo closed his eyes painfully. He took it everywhere he went. He loved that bandanna. But… he had to. **“It’s ragged and old anyway, right?”** he thought._

_So he chucked it into the hole, watching it float down the hole until it disappeared into the darkness. Erigo sighed heavily, wishing he hadn’t done that. But the past couldn’t be rewritten, and he had to accept that. He felt a pat on his shoulder from June._

_“Nice work, buddy,” she giggled. She stood up, brushing any dirt off her skirt and leggings. She, along with Beth, Oscar, and Tom, stood up. Erigo stayed lying by the hole. He didn’t want to go yet._

_“Erigo, we’ve got to go,” June said, walking towards him. The toe of her shoe collided with a visible root in the ground. **Slip.** Her screams echoed as she fell face forward off the edge of the mountain, into the hole._

_“JUNE!” Erigo yelled. He grabbed her ankle, causing him to slip down the hole. His free hand clasped loosely on the edge of the hole, stopping both of them from falling. Erigo saw very quickly, however, that his grip wouldn’t last long enough at all. He had to think hard and fast._

_“June, I’m sorry for what I’m about to do,” Erigo yelled. “Just know that… I somewhat love you. Somehow. I’m not sure. Feelings like these are weird.”_

_“What?!” June yelled with a panicky tone. Erigo, with all his strength, threw June out of the hole. The strength in his other arm left, and his grip on the mountain slipped from him._

_“E-Erigo?” June gasped. She held an injured wrist as she looked over the edge of the mountain. Oscar, Beth, and Tom came rushing over to look and see if June was ok._

_Erigo was gone._

_“He… He saved me,” June whispered. “He sacrificed himself… for me.” June looked down the hole, hoping for him to yell something. So that she knew he’d be ok._

**_“I should’ve told him what to yell in the hole. That way I'd know if he was ok.”_ **

* * *

 

“She really meant that much, huh?” Sans muttered.

“Yes, and she still does,” Erigo sighed. “She’s probably forgotten about me since then. I’ve been in the Underground for years now. But… it’s ok. I’ll just have to move on.”

“I’m sorry, kid,” Sans said. “But think about it. You wouldn’t have met any of the other children, or us monsters, if that had never happened.” Erigo smiled a little, looking back at Sans.

“Yeah, lots of good came out of it,” Erigo agreed. “I changed a lot from everything that happened too. I don’t regret lots of the stuff that happened. I especially don’t regret saving June that night. I hope she’s doing well.” Erigo fell silent, staring up at the sky in front of him. He heard Sans shift and stand up.

“We should head back,” he said suddenly. “It’s getting dark out.” Erigo stood up too.

“Yeah, we should,” Erigo sighed. He took Sans’ hand, and the two of them disappeared from the surface.


	15. Mountain Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first." ~Suzanne Collins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been almost 3 months. I haven't updated this whole summer. I will explain.  
> I got a job at the beginning of the summer, so the summer has been all about adjusting to that. Then I went on two vacations in July. By the time I was back, my AP homework had barely been touched. So the last couple of weeks has been me cramming that in before the first day of school (Friday) comes. Within the last week, I have found out my crush likes me. That is what sparked me to go back to this chapter and finish writing it. Almost as a final goodbye to any sort of anger I have for my ex before I start this next chapter of my life. Because this chapter was inspired by him, which made this chapter hard to write. But I made it!  
> That's where I've been. But I have not forgotten about this book at all. I have so many ideas for this book and the third book following. I'm not sure how often updates will be. I'm trying to juggle everything, and I barely have time for writing anymore. But I will update whenever I can, and I won't abandon this book no matter what. So yeah. :)  
> Amazing music suggestions are also included. Enjoy my friends, a lot of emotion went into this chapter.

~~~~ “Ok, you can open your eyes now.” Sagax’s big, green eyes fluttered open, her long eyelashes untangling from each other. Her eyes adjusted to the sight in front of her. Fresh air, slight breeze… car engines roaring? Sagax’s hand covered her mouth.

“No…”

“Yes,” Sans chuckled. “Welcome to New York City, Sagax.” Sans’ smile got wider as he watched the childlike excitement grow on Sagax’s face. She made a 360-turn, observing the familiar, yet unfamiliar, sights. A small, “Wow.” escaped as she exhaled.

“You like the surprise?” Sans asked.

“I  _ love _ it!” Sagax giggled. “I’ve only ever been here once, to watch a Broadway show when I was very young. It was what inspired me to begin dancing and musical theatre as a career. But I haven’t been here since then.”

“And, uh, what was that show that you went to see?” Sans questioned.

“Oh, it was a beautiful show titled  _ The Scarlet Pimpernel _ ,” Sagax sighed. “It was funny, romantic, and dramatic. There was singing and dancing and so many special effects. I’d do anything to see it a second time.”

“Well, do I have news for you then,” Sans said, revealing two tickets from his coat pocket. Sagax gasped loudly, snatching the tickets from his hand. She read them:  _ “Admission for The Scarlet Pimpernel.” _

“Sans, thank you!” Sagax squealed, throwing him into a huge hug. “How did you know about  _ The Scarlet Pimpernel?” _

“I have my ways,” Sans answered. He winked at Chara’s spirit lingering closeby. They winked back. “Anyway, let’s go.”

“You’re going to watch it too?” Sagax asked.

“I can go as long as I keep myself hidden,” Sans answered. “It’d probably be best if you went before me.” Sagax nodded. The two of them went to the Broadway entrance, where they handed their tickets and entered the theatre.

~~~

_ (Start music suggestion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcKFPLYnifo&list=PL4CxcnSy5_biHw-AdcvWEgOUhnx0anlMZ&index=3) _

Sagax’s head bobbed along with the dancers of the ensemble. They sang and screamed about a guillotine, dressed in aesthetically colored dresses and poofed wigs. Soldiers threw them onto the ground, bringing bruises onto their faces and knees. One person specifically got his head thrown under the guillotine, singing his solo and praying to God that he’d be saved. However, he wasn’t. For when the bad guy, Chauvelin, screamed, “HAIL HER MAJESTY!” he knew at that very moment that it was his end.

The stage grew black as the shrill screams of the man, his family, and other prisoners filled the stage. Some audience members jumped, like Sans did. Sagax, however, didn’t even blink at the sudden screams.

It all felt so familiar to her.

_ Sagax giggled as she watched the miscellaneous scenes in front of her. The Scarlet Pimpernel, also known as Percy, was saving the French from dying of the guillotine. As soldiers of Chauvelin lead people to the guillotine, Percy’s men would find ways to distract or stop them. Her eyes were glued to the stage, watching the creative ideas of the men take action. _

_ A group of women were sent to the guillotine, frowning and crying. One woman, who happened to be one of Percy’s men named Ozzy, stopped Coupeau, the soldier. He began to pull his dress up. Intrigued, Coupeau couldn’t get his eyes off his leg or hide the lust-driven smirk on his face. This led for the other women to run off as he was distracted. When Ozzy sprinted away, Coupeau stopped, realizing what had happened, and chased after the women. _

_ Meanwhile, Elton was struggling with his job. Being the reluctant one of Percy’s men, all he wanted to do was catch butterflies. However, that wasn’t the case with Chauvelin’s men. He ended up being chased around, his net in his hand, by one of the soldiers. _

_ Elton ended up being the favorite of Sagax’s. She giggled as he appeared multiple times on the stage. At one point of time being chased with his net in hand. Another time, being chased with a gun in hand. Finally, he had caught the soldier with his net. Sagax clapped her hands together, secretly rooting for the man to be successful in the end. _

_ As more crazy events happened, sending the audience into laughter, Sagax’s spirits raised. She was more motivated than ever to continue working towards her dream of being a theatre star. She wanted to make people feel the way she did in that very moment. Carelessly happy. Fixated on a story so elegant and magical. _

_ The audience bursted into laughs, with Sagax’s sweet and childlike guffaw sticking out like a sore thumb. Then applause erupted in the audience as the soldiers ended up tied to the post by The Scarlet Pimpernel. Laughs mixed in at how silly the two soldiers looked. With their pale faces scared as could be. _

_ And that was when something clicked in Sagax’s mind. The ability that those actors had to present such an elegant and extravagant story to a group of people. To take those people away from reality and be sucked into a real-life fairytale. It was superb, it was extraordinary, and it was special. _

_ And Sagax knew that was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She knew she could do it too. She just needed a wake-up call. _

_ She was ready to wake up. _

~~~

“That was quite a good show,” Sans yawned, stretching. “What did you think?”

“It was just as magical as I remembered it being,” Sagax sighed. She pondered back at the stage, now dark and empty. “That show was what fueled my dream to take on theatre as my career. It all started there.”

“Hm,” Sans commented. “So, why was it that you… ran away from home?”

“How did you know th-”

“I have my ways.” Sans didn’t look over, but he could feel the spirit of Chara in the seat to his right. He kept looking at Sagax, who suddenly had a regretful look in her gleaming eyes. She then squinted them, her eyebrows furrowing along. She sighed loudly before reclining against her chair and looking at the ceiling.

“My parents…” Sagax began. Then she corrected herself. “My moms, they… cared a lot about me. My passions, my interests, all of that. But I had questions about my past that they either didn’t want to or couldn't answer. That upsetted me. I just had to get away from it all. It wasn’t supposed to go as far as never seeing them again.”

~~~

_ “Sagax, come downstairs please!” Sagax tightened her ballerina shoes, strapping the laces. She then stood up, brushing her tutu. She glanced down upon herself, her form. She was thin all her life. Small stomach, long yet narrow legs, small chest. She turned at different angles, observing this body her soul was confined into. _

_ “Sagax, you’re going to be late!” _

_ Yet neither of the two voices that called out her name gave her that body. They didn’t give her anything of her’s. Her straight, black hair wasn’t the same as her mothers’ curly red or wavy blonde hair. Her meadow green eyes weren’t like her mothers’ tree bark brown or crystal blue eyes. Even her slim body wasn’t the same as her mothers’ curvy body shapes. _

_ What was she? _

_ Sagax brushed her soft hands over her face, her body, her legs and her arms. None of it was composed from the same genes or cells that her mothers contained. So if they didn’t create her… then  _ **_who_ ** _ did? _

_ “Ah, there’s our little star!” Sagax’s mother exclaimed. She brushed some of her red hair out of her face so that she could kiss her daughter on the cheek. Her other mother hugged Sagax afterwards, then stood for a moment looking at her. Sagax stared back, looking right through her blue eyes. Sagax sighed and looked down. _

_ “Sagax, is there something wrong?” Her second mother tried to get her to look back at her, but she refused. “Can you please tell us what’s wrong?” _

_ “Where…” Sagax paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to say her pondering question. “Who made me?” _

_ “Who… Who made you?” the first mother stuttered. Sagax’s second mother immediately turned pale as a ghost. _

_ “Yes,” Sagax answered. “I look nothing like you two. I obviously didn’t come from you two. Who are my actual parents?” _

_ “Why, Sagax… we’re your parents,” the second mother answered. She began shaking, and tears appeared at the brims of her eyes. “We’ve raised you from birth. We taught you the ways of life, nobody else. WE’RE YOUR PARENTS!” _

_ “Jeanne, calm down,” Sagax’s first mother whispered. She wrapped her arms around her, comforting her as she sobbed. She stroked her long hair, doing whatever she could to make her stop crying. _

_ “We have to tell her, Syd,” Jeanne sobbed, still hyperventilating a little. _

_ “Jeanne-” _

_ “Tell me  _ **_what_ ** _?” Sagax demanded. Her arms crossed. Her heart thumped out of her chest as her stomach twisted and turned as if someone was wringing it dry. _

_ “Nothing, Sagax,” Syd replied. _

_ “Sydney, please,” Jeanne sighed. She forced herself out of her wife’s grip. Then she kneeled to Sagax’s height, looking at her directly. “Sagax, it is very difficult for two women to have their own child. We tried really hard to have a surrogate help us, but nobody was willing to. But we both really wanted children. So we had to turn to adoption…” _

_ “No,” Sagax muttered. _

_ “You were really young, so of course you wouldn’t know-” Jeanne began. _

_ “You  _ **_adopted_ ** _ me and never planned to tell me?!” Sagax yelled. _

_ “No, no, we were going to eventually, we just didn’t know when-” Syd started. _

_ “So who are my real parents?” Sagax questioned. Both mothers stopped in their tracks. “I had to come from somewhere, right? So who are my  _ **_real_ ** _ parents?” _

_ “We… we don’t know Sagax,” Syd replied. “The adoption agency had no records of who your parents were or who left you at the adoption clinic. All we know is that you were dropped off there when you were just two days old. We know  _ **_nothing_ ** _ else.” _

_ Sagax paused, staring at the tile floor. It couldn’t be true, could it? It was the only explanation that made sense though. But still… _

_ “You’re lying,” Sagax growled. She stood straight, her eyes piercing through both of her mothers. “You know who my  _ **_real_ ** _ parents are. You just don't want to tell me.” _

_ “No, Sagax, we’re not lying,” Jeanne begged. “I promise that we’d never lie about that!” Another wave of silence. _

_ “You’ve already lied to me about this before, why should I trust you?” Sagax snapped. She broke out into a fast-paced walk, heading out the front door. _

_ “What are you doing?!” Syd cried. _

_ “Getting some air,” Sagax mumbled, slamming the door. _

_ “Sagax, get back here right now!” Jeanne yelled, sprinting to the front door. _

_ “YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU’RE NOT MY REAL PARENTS!” Sagax screamed. Then she ran as fast as she could, away from the small, cream-colored house on the corner of the street. She hopped across the street and escaped into the maze of trees next to her house. _

_ And little did she know it’d be the last time she’d see that house again. _

“It was so immature of me,” Sagax admitted, covering her face of embarrassment and guilt. “I knew deep inside of me they weren’t lying. I knew it, but I still denied it. I just didn’t know how to deal with it. I…”

“It was a lot to take in, it’s understandable,” Sans pointed out, patting Sagax on the back.

“Maybe,” Sagax muttered, slouching her shoulders. “It doesn’t justify me running off though. I worried them both sick. And to think they haven’t seen me since…”

“So what was it that happened that made you fall into Mount Ebott?” Sans questioned. Sagax looked up again, remembering the day clearer than any other. She shuddered.

“I got lost and had to ask for directions.”

_ Sagax sighed as she looked back at the small town behind her. She especially looked in the direction of her cottage, where her mothers must be worried sick. She swallowed a lump in her throat and turned around, going towards the mountain. _

_ She needed some space. _

_ Sagax guided herself through the windy dirt road that led her up and down the mountain.She just kept walking and walking. She had no intention to stop. Her legs continued moving, as the sun's rotation around Earth proceeded. It wasn't until it was noon that she stopped. Sagax realized she had become lost. _

_ "Shoot," she muttered. A wave of panic flushed through her stomach, realizing what she had gotten herself into. It was just miles and miles of mountain in all directions. No sight of her small, cream house anywhere. How was she going to get back? _

_ Would she ever get back? _

_ The sound of a twig snapping was heard nearby. Sagax’s head swung over, knowing she wasn't alone. Not hesitating to see what’d emerge from the distance, she ran. She ran until she could find places to hide herself. Trees and large bushes were found closeby. _

_ The person Sagax heard was following her. Also running. Terror struck her body, and she felt paralyzed. She couldn’t move; she was too afraid. Yet she knew she had to hide? Sagax was mentally screaming at herself to do something and  _ **_not just stand there!_ **

_ "Are you lost?" a voice called. Sagax gasped, covering her mouth. Her instincts finally kicked in, and she hid behind a bush. She was able to hear footsteps rustling leaves on the ground. _

_ "Hey, don't be afraid." Sagax didn't move. She didn't want to risk it. "I... I won't bite." The footsteps got louder, getting closer to where she hid. Then she could feel a shadow towering over her. _

_ "Hey." _

_ Sagax screamed, trying to hide herself more. She crouched more, covering her head with her arms. She squinted her eyes shut. She tried to think about anything other than the situation she was in. But her hands got pulled away, and she was lifted up to her feet. She looked down, her eyes still closed. The person in front of her held onto her hands, not letting go. Sagax took a deep breath, then opened her eyes. Her lips parted open at who was holding her hands in front of her. _

_ A boy her height, with grey-blue eyes and matted, brown hair. He had scattered brown freckles on his face, all small and light. They laid across his cheeks as if they were sprinkles on a cupcake. He had a little bit of dirt on his hands and face, meaning he had been at the mountain for a while. His blue jeans and white T-shirt also were tracked with mud. _

_ "I saw you and you looked lost... are you ok?" the boy asked. His honey voice rang through Sagax's ears, making butterflies appear in her stomach. Sagax could feel her face warm, and she assumed a light shade of pink was covering her face. _

_ "I'm ok... I just had to get away from my family for a little bit," Sagax answered. "I am a little lost though." _

_ "It's ok, you're here with me now," the boy said. "I'm here a lot, because my house is right at the bottom of the mountain. The name's Breneon.” He reached out to Sagax’s face, causing her to flinch. “Oh, sorry. Do you mind?” Sagax braced herself, then shook her head. The new stranger, Breneon, took his hand and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. He then showed off a small, innocent-seeming smile. _

_ “Your eyes are so pretty.” _

_ “You think so?” Sagax whispered. _

_ “Of course,” Breneon chuckled. “They match the grass on our feet and the tree leaves that soar above us. It… fits you.” Sagax looked away again, her smile hard to hide. She managed to let out a, “Thank you.” as a small squeak in-between her lips. _

_ “But you know what?” Breneon started. “Your hair…” He let his hands play through it, getting tangled in the knots. “It’s so long. It doesn’t fit you.” Sagax’s eyes narrowed. _

_ “Huh?” _

_ “Having shorter hair woud show off the shape of your face so much better,” Breneon continued. “You have more of an ovalish face, so the short hair would compliment it nicely. Not that I’m saying your hair now is bad. Just a suggestion.” _

_ “Right…” Sagax muttered. Breneon grabbed one of Sagax’s hands once again. He lead her into the forest, up the mountain. Further and further away from home. _

“I have wanted to chop my hair off ever since,” Sagax grumbled. She ran her fingers through the silky hair, frowning at it. “It sounds rude, but he’s right. No matter how much I want to deny it. And it’s only gotten longer since that day. I despise my hair.”

“I despise that kid,” Sans growled. “Arrogant, pretty boys that think they know it all. When in reality, they’re just sad little souls.”

“I found that out later on,” Sagax agreed. “But it was… way,  _ way  _ too late.”

_ (Start music suggestion now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hig5uLy2fe0) _

_ “You know what? You’re amazing.” Sagax and Breneon laid in a field closeby the mountain dirt road. They inspected the clouds together, holding hands, when he had finally sat up and looked over at her. _

_ He then stared down at her with the largest, clearest eyes that Sagax had ever seen in her life. She could feel herself slip from reality and drown in the million adventures his eyes told. Her lips parted open partially from the words that smoothly came out of his mouth. _

_ “Nobody’s ever told me that before,” Sagax whispered. _

_ “Nobody?” Breneon smirked. “That’s hard to believe.” _

_ “It’s true though,” Sagax said with a giggle. “Nobody has told me that… well, unless you count my mother.” _

_ “Hm, not even your father?” Breneon laughed. _

_ “Well… I do have two mothers,” Sagax pointed out. “So I guess they both have called me amazing before.” _

_ “...Oh,” Breneon said. He shook the shock off his face. “But… I’m glad to have been the first person to call you amazing. Because you are. You’re smart, talented, funny, nice, and so much more.” _

_ “You are…” Sagax stopped. She smiled. “I’m sorry. I am just… at a loss for words.” _

_ “Well, actions do speak louder than words,” Breneon said. He leaned in to Sagax. This caused her to sit up and inch away from him. This prompted Breneon to move closer, his smirk growing more infatuated. _

_ “What do you mean?” Sagax asked. _

_ “Kiss me.” _

_ “What?” Sagax’s eyes widened. She moved further from him, but he reluctantly leaned closer in than before. A pit of butterflies grew as anxiety rushed to her head. _

_ “You said it yourself. You don’t know what to say. So why don’t we express how we feel in other ways?” _

_ “I mean…” Sagax paused. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I just… am scared.” _

_ “You won’t be scared once you kiss me,” Breneon chuckled. “I’ll make you feel all better.” Then, without warning, he brought her close and kissed her. It was light, but obvious that he put lots of passion into it. Sagax, mixed with shock, confusion, and love, didn’t know how to react. So she stayed, letting him kiss her. And even though fireworks exploded in her stomach, bad thoughts about him raced through her mind. How he shouldn’t be her first kiss, she could do better, she could pull away whenever she wanted to. Kick him and run away. _

_ All she did was wait for him to finish and pull away from the kiss. Watch his red face suddenly cringe up when he saw her reactionless face. _

_ “Did you not like it?” Breneon asked. _

_ “Wh-” Sagax stammered. “No, no! I just… wasn’t… ready. I swear.” _

_ “Yeah,” Breneon answered. “Come on. I have something to show you.” _

_ The rest of the trip was Breneon leading the way with Sagax following close behind. No hand brushes, no stops for cloud watching or just staring at each other. He didn’t even look to see if she was still there. Sagax felt guilty. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the kiss, because she did, she just didn’t react in time. _

_ “We’re here.” Sagax looked around the peak of the mountain, seeing the puffy clouds slightly above them and the small houses miles and miles below them. Then she looked in front of her, at the giant hole. She gasped. _

_ “The hole of Mount Ebott…” Sagax whispered. _

_ “The one where two children rumored to have fallen in,” Breneon interrupted. “They fell down this very hole and met their fate.” Breneon then grabbed Sagax, spinning her to face him. _

_ “Prove yourself to me, Sagax.” He forced his lips on her’s again, more aggressive than before. Sagax was scared, her eyes wide open and pooling with terror. When he pulled back, the insane look in his eyes made her more petrified. The grey-blue eyes he had before were dark with drunken anger and lust. _

_ Breneon snarled, bringing her close to him. He whispered a chilling sentence in her ear, his voice growling and his breath making her shudder. _

_ “You don’t love me.” _

_ Then he let go. And pushed her into the hole. Her screams escaped from her mouth, echoing off the mountain as she fell into her fate. Then they faded altogether, never to be heard from someone on the surface again. _

_ Breneon licked his lips angrily. He looked down the hole. Then scoffed and crossed his arms. _

_ “Goodbye Sagax. I loved you.” _

“Something I like about the Underground is the fact that I never have to see that putrid face of his,” Sagax scoffed. “And I have no problem with ever seeing him again. If I never love again, I know to blame him.”

“You will love again,” Sans reassured. “Think about it, kid. Your soul survived all that. You’re capable of so much love. And someone full of love will come around and show you the right way to love.”

“Maybe,” Sagax muttered. She played with her hair, staring at the floor. Sans sighed sadly, standing up.

“Come on kid, it’s been a long day,” Sans sighed. “Let’s go home.” Sagax gave Sans a small, yet sad, smile. Then she stood up. She held onto him, and they both transported back to the Underground.

~~~

Once Sans dropped Sagax back home, he headed back to his house. He pondered the whole walk home about all she told him. She went through a lot. Insecurities, being buried by dance, finding out she was adopted, running away, being manipulated by a boy, and being shoved down a mountain. How could her soul still be as full of integrity and intelligence as it was?

She was tough.

_ “She and Erigo both are,”  _ Sans thought. Both of the older children had such rough pasts, yet such good souls. It was draining though, to hear about everything they had to go through. Sans was almost scared to take the rest of the children to the surface. He couldn’t handle another tragic backstory of how they got to where they were.

“I’ll take Libertas next,” Sans told himself. “She’s pure, she’s a kid. Surely she’s had a happy life. She’ll love to see the surface again. It’ll be a break from the tragic stories.”

Although the purest of souls have the roughest of stories.


	16. Drops of Jupiter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence." ~John Lydon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know. I suck. I know, I know, I told myself I wouldn't fall behind with this book and guess what I did? So much has happened since I last updated this book, I feel like a whole other person while writing this. But don't worry, I never forgot about this book. I honestly don't know if anyone still reads this, but finishing this series will put some of my inner turmoil as an author to rest, so I'm still writing. It may still be a slow process, for trying to juggle school, work, theatre, family, a boyfriend, writing, and a healthy sleep schedule is... pretty much impossible. In fact, I'm typing this right now at 11 pm while avoiding homework and sleep. So that's cool.
> 
> Anyways... this is Libertas' little snippet. She was fun to write, even though I took a long break halfway through her chapter. Mostly cause I struggled with how rough I wanted to make her backstory. But don't worry, it's not THAT bad. ;)
> 
> Please enjoy!

“Hee hee, Sans, when can I open my eyes?” the sweet-as-cherries voice of Libertas rang out. Sans chuckled.

 

“Not yet, kiddo,” he replied. “Just keep your eyes closed. And hold onto my jacket sleeve, ok?” Libertas nodded, her light grip on his jacket tightening. “Ok, here we go. Hope this isn’t too rocky of a ride.”

 

_ “Where should I take the kid?”  _ Sans wondered.  _ “Chara said she loved traveling. Mountains, old cities, deserts, all of it would thrill her. Oh… I have an idea.” _

 

_ Flash. _ The monster and human disappeared from the Underground.

 

“Ok kid, before you open your eyes, where do you  _ think _ we are?” Sans asked.

 

“Um… I don't know,” Libertas answered innocently. She relied on her other senses to help her figure it out. “The ground is soft. There's a light breeze. I can hear waves… wait… ocean waves? No way…”

 

_ (Start music suggestion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn7YErdX-X8) _

 

“You can open your eyes kid,” Sans laughed. Libertas’ eyes shot open, and her jaw dropped. Sitting in front of her was a large, deep blue ocean. Waves crashed into the shore, bringing aesthetically-pleasing noises to her ear. Seagulls flew above her head in the clear sky, crying out a time or two.

 

“Sans,” Libertas whispered, her crystal eyes tearing up. “You brought me to the ocean. On the surface.”

 

“I sure did,” Sans chuckled. “I was working on some experiments with my dad before he, uh… left, that would help the magic in my soul exceed the barrier’s limits. With that, I’m able to teleport outside of the barrier and onto the surface. I wanted to bring each of you back to the surface since you haven't been there in so long. I’ve already taken Erigo and Sagax as well.”

 

Out of nowhere, Sans was attacked by a huge hug. Libertas buried her head into his jacket, loud muffled whimpers following. She sobbed, “Thank you Sans. I’ve al-always wanted to see the ocean. More than anything.” Sans rubbed the young girl’s back as a form of comfort.

 

“Of course, Libertas,” Sans whispered happily, although he felt bad about her crying. “You’re a good kid. You deserve to be back up here and somewhere that you like to be.”

 

“I...I…” Libertas paused to sniffle. “I’m not a good kid though.” Sans’ shoulders dropped.

 

“What are you talking about?” Sans chuckled, pulling away from the young girl. “You’re one of the sweetest, kindest, most patients souls I’ve met.”

 

“But I’m  _ independent _ ,” Libertas spat. “I’m independent and focus too much on myself sometimes, and it makes me horrible. I’m horrible, especially to my parents.”

 

“You really are the opposite,” Sans insisted. “You’re selfless and don’t even realize it. You’ve always put Toriel, the other kids, and the monsters before yourself! You are one in a million, Libertas.”

 

“You don’t understand Sans,” Libertas mumbled. “I was different before I fell into the Underground. I was… extremely strong-headed.”

* * *

 

 

_ Libertas seemed to be one content with life. Always giggling, smiling, picking flowers on the sidewalk and putting them in her golden, braided hair. There wasn’t a single dull moment of her life, and she always took time to make every day an adventure. _

 

_ But she wanted more. _

 

_ She never liked being stuck in the same village. With the same people, the same scenery, the same day-to-day schedule. Sure, consistency to some degree was nice. But she wanted to experience as much of life as she could and be free. She didn’t like feeling confined to the same place and routine. _

 

_ And even though she knew for now she’d be stuck in that small village, with the same people, the same scenery, and the same day-to-day schedule, one day she’d get to leave and never look back. _

 

_ “What kind of ideas are you spewing out at me?” a tall, lean figure spat. Libertas, as small and frail as she was, stepped back a little in fear. “Being a photographer? Traveling the world? Painting little pictures?! That’s not a career!” _

 

_ “But it is, Dad!” Libertas cried out. “Sure, it’s not a typical career of being a schoolteacher or a doctor, but it’s still a job. This is what I want to do!” _

 

_ “And leave our poor family and our small village?” a similar-looking figure to Libertas gasped. She sipped her tea from the dinner table. “Libertas, you should stay here, be a teacher, and live a calm and peaceful life with us.” _

 

_ “I don’t want calm and peaceful!” Libertas thundered. “I want adventure! I want to see what’s outside of this village!” Libertas jumped up from the couch, grabbing her drawings sprawled across the floor. “See these purple hills? They’re mountains, like the ones right by our village, only there are some that are higher than the skylines! I want to climb them all and feel the airless atmosphere around me!” She scrambled for more pictures. _

 

_ “See these blue swirls by the yellow sand? They’re ocean waves, and I want to feel the water in my hair and learn how to surf, like those surfer dudes in the movies. This large, yellow building? That’s the Eiffel Tower, and I want to see what it looks like lit up under the moonlight!” _

 

_ “Libertas, that’s enough,” her father snapped. He stepped closer to her. “I don’t want to hear anymore of your damn fantasies about traveling the world. You’re staying here, where you’re safe, and that’s final! And stop drawing those silly pictures. You need to do something that’ll actually help you in life.” _

 

_ “Honey,” Libertas’ mother started, interrupting her husband from saying anything else, “maybe choosing a less complex job would soothe your character.” _

 

_ “Do you even know me?” Libertas questioned. “I’m independent. I want to see the world! I want to express my ideas through vivid drawings and abstract photography. I want to be a free butterfly and see how beautiful this world is in person! This is what  _ **_I_ ** _ want, not  _ **_yo_ ** _ -” _

 

**_Slap._ **

 

“He didn’t,” Sans growled.

 

“He did, but we don’t talk about it,” Libertas whispered. “Because I thought he was right. I didn’t want to fight him on it, I couldn’t. He was… my dad.” Libertas’ bottom lip quivered.

 

“But, kid,  _ you _ know what’s right for you, not your parents,” Sans implied. “It’s your life, you should do what you want.” Libertas stared down at her feet resting on top of the sand. It made her think back to the picture, and how excited the thought of the beach made her. But how angry it made her father. Enough to...

 

“After he slapped me… I knew he was in control of my life,” Libertas whispered. She put her small hand over her left cheek. “Sometimes I can still feel the sting he left.” Sans put his hand on Libertas’ as a form of comfort.

 

“You’re not with him, he can’t hurt you,” Sans said.

 

“Maybe,” Libertas sighed. “But I also hurt him. I’m just as cruel as him.”

* * *

 

 

_ “Whatcha doing, kiddo?” Libertas hurried her papers up into a pile and scurried them behind her. _

 

_ “Nothing,” she giggled. “Just… hanging out.” _

 

_ “What are you drawing?” _

 

_ “Nothing.” _

 

_ “Why won’t you let me see your drawings?” her father growled. “After all, I said you needed to stop drawing those silly pictures, right?” Libertas gulped. Her dad whipped the papers from behind her back, scrolling through each one carefully. He scoffed. _

 

_ “Still daydreaming about traveling the world and painting pretty pictures?” The mockery tone in her dad’s voice made Libertas’ heart drop. _

 

_ “They’re not just daydreams, I think I could actually do it!” Libertas exclaimed. _

 

_ “And I say you  _ **_can’t_ ** _!” _

 

_ “Why won’t you let me be myself?!” Libertas yelled. _

 

_ “Because you aren’t realistic,” her dad spat. “You aren’t being real with yourself. You see yourself as this invincible girl who could jump on a random plane and travel the rings of Saturn if you wanted to. But that’s not the case. You’re just a little girl who’s meant to grow up and be a schoolteacher or a banker. Or probably even a mother who just watches the children and cleans the house. You’re meant to stay put and keep to yourself. Extravagant traveling and unrealistic jobs are for hippies. You’re not a hippy, are you Libertas?” _

 

_ Libertas clenched her fist. She stood up from where she was sitting. _

 

_ “No, I’m not a hippy,” she began. “But I’m also a dreamer. I’m a creator. I was put on this planet to explore the beauties that lie within these places and express its beauties through multiple forms of art. I was put here to be a free, careless soul and travel. Maybe I won’t ever get to see the rings of Saturn, but I’ll get as close as possible. I’m Libertas, I’m independent, and I’m leaving.” _

 

_ Libertas ran towards the front door. She swung it open and leapt out of the small, white house she knew her whole life. She sprinted towards the hilly mountain that rested across her town. She could hear the screams of her father just feet away from her, but she kept running. Then she stopped. She turned around, seeing her dad at the porch of her house. Her mother, in shock, stood behind him. Her frail body quivered in fear of her sudden disappearance, but it wasn’t enough to stop her from opening her mouth. _

 

_ “I HATE YOU!” _

 

_ And off she went. _

 

* * *

 

“All I am is a foolish girl,” she laughed to herself. “I had no idea what I was doing. I just wanted my freedom, my independence. I wanted my parents to stop being so controlling of my future. I didn’t actually hate them. I only wanted to prove a point.”

 

“And maybe you did by leaving,” Sans said. “You proved you can by out on your own.”

 

“But they don’t know that,” Libertas muttered. “As far as anyone in my town knows, I’ve been wiped off the face of the Earth. And technically, I have. They probably think I’m dead, when really I was planning on returning to their house by supper that day. And the last thing I said to them was that I hated them.”

 

“So that was when you fell to Mount Ebott?” Sans asked. Libertas nodded.

 

“It was scary.”

 

* * *

 

_ Darkness covered the mountain Libertas climbed on. Her vision became captive of this darkness, and becoming lost became harder and harder to avoid. She staggered around trees and bushes, not able to find the trail she was on before. Even if she wanted to go home now, she couldn’t. She’d have to find her way back, or never return. That thought left a pit of fear in her stomach, but she carried on. _

 

_ For what seemed like hours, she hiked up, up, and up more until she reached what seemed to be the top. Although she could not tell where she was due to the faint light of the night. Libertas reached her arms out, in attempt to feel her way around the top of the mountain. She was met with nothing but the everlasting darkness and a couple teardrops trickling down her chin. _

 

_ She wanted to go home. _

 

_ Libertas continued to inch forward, unaware of where she was going or what she was getting herself into. A root sticking out of the ground caught her foot, and she lost her balance. Shrieks of confusion and fear erupted, then echoed off the hole of Mount Ebott. Then they turned into nothing, as she fell off the face of the Earth. _

 

_ Adventure was what she wanted. That was what she got. _

 

* * *

 

“I don’t regret meeting you or the others,” Libertas confessed. “I love all of you. I love the monsters. I’ve grown up with you all. I just… miss my parents. And I feel really bad about what happened.”

 

“Hate to say this to you kid, but… I think it’s for the better,” Sans stated. He patted the young child on the back as she stared off into the ocean, reflecting the sunset’s hues of orange and pink. “We want you to be who you want to be. Your parents don’t.”

 

“I know,” Libertas whispered. Sans hesitated, wondering if she’d say more. However, she said nothing more as she crossed her arms and fixated her gaze on the ocean.

 

“Are you ready to go back, kid?”

 

“Yeah, I think so.”

 

Libertas lightly grabbed onto Sans’ jacket once again. He ruffled his hand into the girl’s hair, making her innocent laugh ring out one more time, before they disappeared back into the Underground.


End file.
